Bolton boss Steven Schumacher was happy to take a point from a tense 0-0 draw with Stevenage at Lamex Stadium.
Chances were at a premium in the contest, and Chem Campbell came closest for Stevenage when his 77th-minute effort was cleared off the line by Sam Dalby.
But both remain firmly in the play-off hunt, Bolton in fifth and Steveange eighth.
“It was a hard-earned point, definitely,” said Trotters boss Schumacher. “Sometimes here, on this pitch, not a lot happens. All the games I’ve watched are from at home, there were very little clear-cut chances.
“You’ve still got to play football, which I felt for 25 minutes we did and we were really good.
“If we scored in that opening spell, when we were on top, then we’d probably go on and win the game.
“The longer that it went on, the more difficult it became and you could see a bit of tiredness kicking in from both teams really.
“And in the end, it was a bit of a scrap when the weather kicked in as well, but it’s another point.”
And it was another clean sheet too, following Saturday’s 1-0 win at Wigan and that also pleased the Bolton boss.
“Yeah, that’s important,” said Schumacher. “Two in a week is good and something to build from, something for confidence.
“Some of the ideas were nice tonight, the way the lads played, but it was just that last little bit, a little lack of quality in that final third and a lack of energy in the last 15, 20 minutes.
“I thought the lads gave everything, but we just didn’t find a way to unlock the door.”
For Stevenage the game represented the chance to lay some of the ghosts of Saturday to rest, a humbling 3-0 loss at Exeter.
Boss Alex Revell was much happier with this performance.
“Tonight was about putting on a more typical Stevenage performance,” he said. “We obviously realised that Saturday wasn’t good enough from everybody, including us as a management team.
“We made sure that the players knew what we’re about and what we are as a team. We’ve diverted from that over the past few weeks but this was more intense, more what we are as a team.
“Is there room for better? Of course there is but this was about getting a result.
“We’ve probably tried to be a bit more expansive, taking a little bit more control in games and that makes us a bit slower and more open.
“We’re a team who work incredibly hard for each other and here we saw a proper team performance today. That’s all we want to see and when we do that, we get results.”
