John Mulvihill was proud of the spirit displayed by his Cardiff Blues side despite a disappointing defeat to Glasgow Warriors.
The Blues paid the price for a sluggish start which saw the Scots race into a 14-0 lead at Scotstoun before they fought back.
Wales’ Capital Region had plenty of opportunities to snatch a first win in Glasgow since 2013, but they ultimately came up short losing 17-13.
Following a below par performance against Edinburgh last weekend, Mulvihill was pleased with the response from his charges but concedes the only thing that matters is the result.
He said: “We challenged the boys to physically front up and they certainly did that.
“It was a really disappointing start to the game and we probably didn’t touch the ball in the first 10 minutes. When we did we scored but we gave them that head start and it was too hard to pin them back.
“We were in the game right until the end and had an opportunity to score a try to win the game in the 80thminute so they never gave up, kept going and that’s something we can build on and take this momentum into our game with Ulster.
“I’m very proud of our performance but we’re not very happy with that result.”
The Blues slipped to four defeats against the Warriors last season and this was a much-improved showing despite the defeat.
Undoubtedly the grit and determination will please Mulvihill and the fact that Olly Robinson, who made 19 tackles and won countless turnover penalties, scooped the Guinness man-of-the-match award was testament to the defensive effort
Mulvihill continued: “It’s a massive improvement, it’s a long time since they only scored 17 points, they only scored two tries when they usually get off to a flyer here. Defensively we probably had to make over 200 tackles, there were a few individual handling errors that cost us.
“It just goes to show how close we were in that game, it’s not often that a losing player wins the man-of-the-match award, but Olly was in the game and we gave ourselves a chance towards the end.”
The PRO14 now takes a week-long break during the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals before a trip to face Ulster on October 25, and Mulvihill has called on his side to take another step forward.
He added: “We’re back in on Tuesday and will start out preparation towards next week, making sure we’re fresh and then from Thursday we will focus on Ulster, with a 10-day preparation into winning in Belfast, which is something we need to do.”