Port Vale manager Darren Moore praised the concentration levels of his side after overcoming an early sending off to claim a 2-1 win over Accrington Stanley.
Tom Sang was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Ashley Hunter shortly after setting up Jayden Stockley’s seventh-minute opener.
And although Tyler Walton equalised for the visitors after the break, Lorent Tolaj was on hand to grab the winner for Vale.
The victory sees the Valiants move up to sixth place in the League Two table and stretches their unbeaten run to five games, much to the delight of Moore.
“I thought the boys showed wonderful concentration, real detail in their distances and a great understanding of each other, with the ball and without the ball,” he said.
“We said when we get on the ball, we might have to stay on it a bit longer with being a man down.
“That extra man to find that extra pass and angles was not there, so staying on the ball and showing a bit of individual brilliance, we needed that in abundance today.
“And I thought in large parts, individually, they showed that.”
It is the second successive game in which Port Vale have been reduced to 10 men when leading 1-0, but last time out against Chesterfield they were unable to hold on to their advantage and had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
“Because the sending off (today) was so early, there was a long time to go in the game,” Moore said.
“And I said we’ve just got to trust in each other as we’ve been here before.
“I think from those previous games, we’ve learnt from it. And I think today it was testament to the boys that at stages, you wouldn’t have known that we were a man down.”
Stanley assistant manager Ged Brannan, who is in charge while boss John Doolan takes a period of leave following a family bereavement, was gutted that his team could not capitalise on their one-man advantage.
The defeat means they have dropped two places to 21st – six points clear of the relegation zone.
“The way I feel inside me, it’s absolutely killing me,” Brannan said.
“It’s hard to swallow it. They had no chances against us and we just switched off for one minute and it killed us.
“We spoke at half-time, we said we’ve got to believe in ourselves and get on the ball and they did.
“You see the lads, they all believe in each other, they all know they’re good players, getting on the ball and creating chances.
“Everything worked well today except obviously conceding that second goal, which is a bitter pill to swallow.
“We kept going but it wasn’t meant to be today.
“There’s lots and lots of positives to take out of that game. We’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again next week.
“We’ve got a full week of training, and we can work on the next game and hopefully get a win next Saturday.”