Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton was proud of his players for what he felt was a “proper” performance as they held the Blues to a 0-0 draw at the Memorial Stadium.
The draw ended a Rovers run of five defeats on the bounce and Barton felt it was a significant plus for his team.
"There were lots of positives to take out of the game in terms of our defensive performance,” he told BristolLive. "It was proper, it’s what we’ve been looking for.
"I felt after the game on Saturday [the 1-0 defeat at Lincoln City], in the midst of that battle being lost and the adversity of stuff going against us, I felt some young saplings really started to emerge and seeing the character in those moments is key.
"Tonight, you’ve seen them grow further. I thought there were some really good performances and it would be unfair of me to single out an individual because it was a real group and team effort. We haven’t won again, but we’ve managed to stop the bleeding against a very good side.
"You can only be proud as a coach of the players. In the adversity, to come into the stadium with what’s going on in terms of the results profile against a promotion-chasing team and to stick to the game plan in the manner they did, I’m so pleased for the group and so pleased for the football club.”
He added: "To a man today, they were superb, and that includes the lads who came into the game,
"They kept following their instruction, backing each other up and I thought it was a really good performance, what you would call a proper team performance.
"In the midst of that, I think you saw a few young boys turn into men tonight and that will go a long way to settling them into our football club and we have given them what they have come for, which is a foundation to build a fantastic career off.”