Delighted Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg saluted his battling side as they snatched a dramatic 3-2 injury-time victory away to Stoke.
Second-placed Boro led twice but conceded levellers as Stoke gave the Championship high-fliers a run for their money.
But Brazilian Neto Borges, having scored an own goal, atoned with his first league goal since March last year to stretch Boro’s unbeaten run to five games.
“In general it was an absolutely top away performance,” said Hellberg.
“There’s a lot of emotions at the end, it was a strong mentality from the boys.
“Honestly though it feels very weird we’ve conceded two goals like we did because I thought we defended really, really good.
“We were very good on the ball and created a lot of opportunities, I think we had around 20 shots away from home against a team that have won five and drawn one from their last six games.
“It was a massive game for us and how we started the game was ridiculous, but overall I’m very, very happy with the performance.
“It was a good way to win it even though we wanted to keep a clean sheet.”
Hellberg was quick to praise match-winner Borges after his unfortunate contribution for Stoke’s first equaliser.
“I agree [Neto deserved his goal],” added Hellberg. “I couldn’t see who scored at first, but there was a big smile on my face when I saw it was him.
“He deserves it so much coming back from such a long period [out]. He’s done everything he can to give himself a chance, I think he’s been fantastic.
“It was a top performance again, he’s growing up to be a top, top left-back.”
Frustrated Stoke boss Mark Robins admitted his side were punished by two mistakes that ultimately cost them.
Keeper Viktor Johansson’s uncharacteristic blunder gifted Boro their 2-1 lead and then some lazy defending allowed the visitors to snatch victory.
“There’s a lot to be really positive about, but at the same time harsh lessons learned,” said Robins.
“That’s an understanding of what one of the top teams in the division looks like – and we can also look like that.
“The game was nip-and-tuck and we had to be patient to try and win the ball back, but we did gift them the ball back too quickly.
“They’re a good team and we’ve got to do things quicker, there’s no doubt about that. I didn’t feel as though we did that well enough for the majority of the first half. We had very limited opportunities.
“But when we went a goal down the mindset changed and the rhythm started to come back into it.”
Robins was left frustrated with the way the Potters missed the chance to at least snatch a point.
“The biggest thing is it’s [Boro’s second goal] a shot from distance – a powerful shot that it was – but Vik couldn’t just hold on to that one and we’ve got to be there to pick that one up and help him,” reflected Robins. “He makes so many saves for us, but we were like lead on our feet.
“And we served up [their winner], we didn’t defend it and we’ve got to be disappointed with the outcome of the game. We need to learn a lesson for sure.”