Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp remained optimistic despite yet another away defeat, 2-0 to Swansea, on Tuesday.
QPR's loss leaves them in the bottom three and still without an away point since their promotion last season.
But Redknapp feels that life on the road has not been helped by the tough sequence of fixtures they've had in the first half of the season.
"We've had hard games," said Redknapp. "We caught Newcastle on the back of a five-match winning run then we went to Chelsea, Man United and Tottenham earlier in the season when they looked like they were going to be flying. They have not been easy games.
"Look at the table and the teams that have come up -- it's a big step up."
Redknapp praised the form of goalkeeper Rob Green and said the 34-year-old had responded to the challenge of Alex McCarthy, who joined Rangers from Reading in August.
"Rob Green was in great form. Alex has come in and pushed Rob's game onto another level, he's been fantastic for us," said Redknapp. "If they score early then you are in for a very long night, but the longer the game goes on at 0-0 then the fans get edgy. At 0-0 you are bang in the game and when you get to 12 minutes to go then you are close.
"We've been like that in the last couple of away games at Newcastle and Chelsea and we just couldn't quite hang on there."