Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath may not have been too impressed with his side's performance against the Dragons at Kingsholm on Friday night but he was more than happy to finish with a win.
The Cherry and Whites scraped a 19-17 victory over Paul Turner's men thanks to a late Nicky Robinson penalty after the visitors had led with just six minutes remaining of their Pool 2 opener.
And although the manner of the victory wasn't exactly what he was after, Redpath sees no reason to complain about starting the Heineken Cup campaign with a valuable four points.
"We've got to be very critical, and we will be, but you've got to take the win as well," said Redpath, who was in charge of the squad for the first time in European action since taking over from Dean Ryan in the summer.
"I thought out ball retention was poor but I thought our work ethic to get back into the game in the second half was pretty good.
"There's no reason for me to go down to the changing room and shout and bawl - it's Heineken Cup rugby, it's four points and you've got to take it, especially as we came back from losing at half time."
After an impressive 24-5 win over Bath in their opening league fixture of the season, results haven't quite gone to plan for Gloucester.
And it looked as though it might be a case of more of the same for Redpath's side as tries from James Arlidge and Joe Bearman put the Dragons on the brink of just their third away victory in the continent's showpiece tournament.
But it was Gloucester who wore the broader smiles at the end of a pulsating 80 minutes as they kept their nerve to secure a much-needed victory over an opposition for whom Redpath has a healthy respect.
"We've had a tough start to the season and sometimes we've struggled to come back in a game like that," added Redpath.
"I thought we came back reasonably well, played field position a little bit better and kept the ball a wee bit better than we had in the first half.
"The Dragons didn't come here to do anything other than win and they showed a lot of composure. A lot of credit must go to them. They've started pretty well in the Magners League and people who said it was going to be easier for Gloucester haven't been looking at their results over the last few weeks.
"I've openly said that I've been critical of some of our recent performances. We'll be honest with ourselves and pick up some of the pieces but we've got to move on and build some momentum and confidence within the group. A win always gives you confidence."
