John Coleman was a relieved man after his Rochdale players picked up their second home win of the season, beating Oxford 2-0.
The pressure had been building on Coleman and his players to improve performances and results in front of their own supporters, and late goals from George Donnelly and Bobby Grant did just the trick for the Dale chief.
"I told them I didn't care how we played, as long as we won and we showed passion and endeavour," he said. "As long as we show that, no matter what the score is, the fans will respond to you.
"But I did tell them I wanted to win at all costs. Thankfully they came up with the goods. I think we deserved the win, eventually. Fair play to Oxford, they took the game to us in the first half and played really well.
"We had stressed to the players the importance of what the win could do for us, and stressed the importance of giving the fans something to cheer and enthuse them, something to get them excited about.
"I don't think we could be faulted in terms of work-rate and endeavour, the commitment was terrific and the lads ran themselves into the ground. But we were possibly just missing that little bit of quality."
