Captain Seamus Coleman was delighted as the Republic of Ireland beat Moldova 3-1 in World Cup qualifying Group D at Zimbru Stadium.
James McClean netted a second-half brace after Igor Bugaev cancelled out Shane Long's opener and the Irish now sit second in the standings.
The Everton defender told Sky Sports 1: "I thought we did all right in the game. Just before half-time we were very naive to be left isolated at the back like we were.
"We should have just come in at half-time one nil up, but we didn't and we made it hard work.....and I thought we were very sloppy at times with flicks and kicks in the first half but we got it right in the second half.
"We thought it was going to be a grind -- but we broke them down.
"James got two goals and we've come out of it with three points and that's all that matters.''
Regarding their performance as they seemed to lose composure in the second half with the score at 1-1, Coleman added: "I think we just need to learn from that.
"I said earlier in the week, there's no easy games at international level. We didn't perform massively great against Georgia, but they're a decent team.
"They drew at Wales tonight so there's going to be sticky spells in games and we had that for a little bit tonight but we came out the other end and showed our composure and James scored two very calm goals.
"It's a massive win. We wanted three points and that's what we achieved and that's all that matters.''
McClean hopes the win will see the media give the national team a break following negative comments regarding the Republic after the 2-2 draw with Serbia and the 1-0 win over Georgia.
He said: "We got a lot of flak after the Serbia game and a lot of flak after the Georgia game.
"The Irish press especially they need a realisation....we're not going to blow things away.
"We've always been a team that works hard and when has a win never been enough?
"We're happy that we won tonight and we're happy to move onto seven points.
"Our fans are brilliant. They travel everywhere, home and away, but for some reason the media -- it's a no-win situation.''
After scoring his sixth and seventh goals for Ireland, McClean added: "It's always nice to score for your country and tonight I was fortunate enough to be in the right position twice. I'm delighted -- more so for the team than myself.''
Manager Martin O'Neill was pleased to make it seven points from his side's opening three games and said: "We played excellently in the first half of the game. We should have maybe been two or three in front. Then the goal knocked us back for a while.
"But we came around in the second half. We defended strongly. We created some chances and won the game and it was a big win for us.
"It's great to win away from home. I thought we played with a bit of panache.''