Gianfranco Zola could not hide his relief after West Ham emerged from a difficult week with a valuable point from Sunday's 2-2 draw at Everton.
The Hammers boss cast doubt over his future at Upton Park after his side crashed to a sixth successive Premier League defeat last weekend.
With the team above the bottom three only on goal difference and Zola apparently at odds with the club's owners, the Hammers were heading towards crisis and a potentially damaging relegation.
But Zola vowed to fight on and problems were pushed aside as the London club produced a battling display to hold Everton at Goodison Park.
When asked about the mood in the dressing room after Ilan's late equaliser, Zola said: "It was fantastic. I am going to get drunk tonight!"
Everton, who had been looking to maintain a late European push with an eighth consecutive win, twice led through Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Ayegbeni Yakubu.
Manuel da Costa cancelled out the opener after team-mate Mido had missed a penalty and Ilan snatched a point with a stunning header moments after Yakubu looked to have won it with six minutes remaining.
Zola hailed his side's battling qualities, and said: "We never gave up. We came back in the second half, we equalised and played well.
"Their second goal could have been a blow for everybody but we reacted and scored an equaliser straight away.
"We showed we don't give up for anything.
"Don't forget Everton have beaten all the best teams at this ground - they are a team on top form so what we did today wasn't a simple thing."
Zola also chose to focus on the players when asked about the speculation over his position and his relationship with owners David Gold and David Sullivan.
He said: "We don't want to focus on anything other than the football. Other things we cannot stop - people want to give opinions - but we are 100% focused on the field.
"We have been together. All this season has made us stronger, for sure.
"It is a difficult situation but, despite all the difficulties, we don't want to stop fighting.
"That is what we said to each other before the game. We said no matter what, we will fight until the end."
Zola now expects that spirit to remain over the closing weeks of the campaign.
He added: "It is a great encouragement for me.
"I wouldn't say the last five games are going to be a matter of life and death - but very close.
"We know what football is like but we are not going to hold anything back."
The major downside for West Ham was a booking for Scott Parker which means he will miss the next two games through suspension.
Zola said: "Obviously we are going to miss him but I am sure with this spirit, everyone will work harder to make sure his absence is not too big."
Everton boss David Moyes conceded a draw was probably a fair result.
The Toffees could have had a penalty in the second half when Da Costa appeared to trip Louis Saha but Moyes admitted his team were lucky not to have earlier been reduced to 10 men.
Sylvain Distin was shown only a yellow card for fouling Carlton Cole when he was the last man and conceding the penalty Tim Howard saved from Mido.
Moyes said: "We are disappointed to be 2-1 up and throw it away in the last three or four minutes, but the game was tight.
"We didn't play well enough to merit more but sometimes when you don't play great you hope to win it, and it looked like we had done that late on.
"I could say I am hard done by not getting the penalty kick - the decision was a poor one - but I have to also say on another day Sylvain Distin could have been sent off."
