Michael O'Neill reflected on a positive Easter weekend though admitted Blackburn Rovers weren't at their best against West Brom.
The status quo has been maintained from Friday's matches, with all of the bottom six drawing in matches against each other. That makes Rovers the big winners of the doubleheader, extending their lead from four to six points.
With five games to go, avoiding defeat against West Brom was more important than winning. O'Neill felt that tension bore out in the game and reflected on the positives of another clean sheet but a lack of quality in attack.
"We knew it would be a difficult game just coming off the back of Friday and the tension in the game for both sides was quite evident, I felt, in the first half especially," he said.
"I thought we struggled just to get to the same level in terms of our quality of play and maybe our intensity. Our goalkeeper makes a big save for us, which is massive in the first half.
"I thought in the second half we were better, you know, we were a better team. We had more opportunities we could have been better with as well, maybe one or two half-chances we should have done better with as well.
"So overall, you know, it's positive, it's our third clean sheet in a row. But we're just running a little bit, I think, on empty to maybe create something to win the game."
"Defensively, we've lost players, so to get through games and keep clean sheets is a testament to the whole team, to the work that they've put into the structure, to the goalkeeper," he added on a third successive shut out.
"Sean McLoughlin has been excellent. Young Tom (Atcheson) coming in has been excellent as well. So they deserve a lot of credit because it's not easy.
"We haven't been a high-scoring team all season. So it's important that we know we make sure we're difficult to beat and that's what we have been. "
Rovers are now in a position of strength with five more games to go. One more win might be enough from their remaining fixtures, with two of those against teams with nothing to play for and one against Leicester City.
"It's natural at this stage of the season for the players, that we're close to getting to a position of safety," he said on the tension in Ewood Park.
"But we also know that, you know, you can be only a couple of results away from being dragged back into a difficult situation. We have to keep taking points.
"I think with every game that is chalked off, we gain a little bit more security. We've got five games left, we know they're difficult games and we've got a six-point gap at this minute in time.
"Someone beneath us is going to have to go on a decent run and we're going to obviously have to collapse at that point. I think that we've got a real good togetherness in the group, a real spirit in the group.
"I think, as a group, they've given everything and, you know, overall, it's been a good Easter for us."
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