Swansea captain Ashley Williams hailed his side's defensive resolve as they claimed a hard-fought 1-0 win over Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday.
Jonjo Shelvey's 83rd-minute strike settled a tie which had looked destined to be goalless as both teams struggled to break down stubborn defences.
Williams made two late goal-line clearances to deny the Saints an equaliser, and told Sky Sports after the game: "For the full 90 I think the team worked so hard to get that clean sheet. Jonjo took the geezer on and it's a brilliant strike so it's perfect. As a centre-half, you love a clean sheet.
"We've got a lot of injuries at the minute and a few new guys coming in but I think you saw the commitment, the work-rate, the way we wanted to play the game.
"We deserved the points. We needed it. It's a tough place to come -- they're a very good side.
"We needed to stick with it for the 90 minutes and when you've had a little bit of a wobble you need something like that to really get you back on track.''
Matchwinner Shelvey thought the Swans grew into the encounter after Saints had dominated the early proceedings, saying: "I thought we started off a bit shaky -- they had a lot of possession -- but I think in the second half we grew in confidence, started getting the ball down and playing and obviously it has paid off."
Swans manager Garry Monk felt his team were full value for their win and echoed Williams' sentiments about the endeavour of his troops.
"I think we deserved it in the end," he said. "Tactically we had a good game plan and we stuck to it.
"Yes there was going to be moments where we had to defend and put bodies on the line but I think overall we frustrated them and when we had our chances we took them.
"All in all, the three points we can be happy with. We're back on track. I think the performance overall, from everyone, we were very very good."
The transfer window closes on Monday evening and Monk admitted there could be some movement at the Liberty Stadium.
"I've made the club well aware of the ones I want to get in and obviously it's up to the chairman and the board to do those deals if possible.
"But I'm concentrating on the group I've got here as well and trying to improve them every single day and so far this season we've been doing that.
"We've had our blip, hopefully this is a platform now for us to finish the season really strong."