Spain coach Vicente del Bosque felt his side were well worth a 2-0 victory over Slovakia in Oviedo, which put them top of Euro 2016 Group C.
Slovakia came into the match defending a 100 percent record from their six qualifying ties, which included a shock victory over La Roja in Zilina last October.
However, after forward Robert Mak shot wide when clean through on goal, Spain took an early lead through Jordi Alba and then a penalty by Andres Iniesta, given after Chelsea forward Diego Costa was adjudged to have been tripped by the Slovak goalkeeper when contact looked minimal, put the hosts in control at the Nuevo Carlos Tartiere.
While it was far from a vintage display by the 2012 European champions, Del Bosque believes his side are moving along in the right direction as they close in on a place at next summer's finals in France.
"They had their moment with the score at 0-0 and they wanted us to lose patience as we did not have much intensity, but gradually they became weaker," he said at a news conference.
"We have, though, now learned to move the ball quickly, to stop their counter-attacks and have a lot of possession.
"Yes we could have been more comfortable, but we played well and now have much choice in our squad, so can be happy with our level."
There were a few jeers by a section of the crowd towards defender Gerard Pique, who has found himself the centre of criticism in some quarters following a joke made at the expense of Barcelona's rivals Real Madrid.
Del Bosque said: "I find it unfortunate that there are people who whistle a player of the national team. Here in Oviedo the public has been fantastic to us and Gerard has played fantastically good football today."
Spain travel to Skopje to face Macedonia on Tuesday, where victory would see them further strengthen their position in the top two qualification places.
Midfielder Iniesta said: "There was a great need for us to win to be in a good position in the group.
"We played a pretty complete game, so people have enjoyed our football.
"Now we have achieved our target, so let's go for the next game."