Remi Garde said he was impressed by his Aston Villa side's display in the 0-0 draw with Manchester City.
Villa ended a run of eight successive league defeats to take a point against the Premier League leaders in the Frenchman's first game in charge.
Garde believes a gritty performance against Manuel Pellegrini's side can help restore confidence for a side still bottom but now within a point of 19th-placed Sunderland.
The former Arsenal player told Sky Sports: "We got the point that the team was looking for, for a long time now.
"They worked hard for the team and we worked hard on the training pitch for three days. They were concentrated and focused on what I asked for - today I saw some very good stuff.
"We have some good players - they just needed confidence. Today was a very difficult game, but we had nothing to lose so I wanted my players to defend well and when they get the ball to try to attack and cause them some problems."
Garde acknowledged in his post-match press conference that his side had got lucky as Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling missed fine chances, but he felt his players' attitude had earned them some fortune.
"We have been a bit lucky because they touched the bar, we didn't create so many chances, I know that," he added.
"City were full of confidence, they were brilliant in Sevilla so it's a good point to work on.
"I am realistic, we were only threatening sometimes but it's quite a good start.
"We have to believe we can be safe. It will be a tough mission, even if we have one more point today. Let's see what happens.
"You have to be lucky but you have to work hard, luck is not coming knocking on your door and saying 'look, I'm here'. You create that, the behaviour you need to get lucky. It would have been very disappointing for us not to get a point if they had scored."