Gary Neville hopes Valencia's Copa del Rey quarterfinal victory over Las Palmas has made the club's "patient" fans happy after having made them "suffer a bit" recently.
A Rodrigo Moreno goal gave a nervy Valencia side a 1-0 win at Las Palmas on Thursday night, for a 2-1 aggregate result, and passage to the semifinals along with Barcelona, Celta Vigo and Sevilla.
Los Che have not won any of Neville's first seven La Liga games in charge but they have now eliminated third-tier Barakaldo, Granada and Las Palmas in the cup as they edge closer to a first final in four years.
The former Manchester United defender told his postmatch news conference that he was happy to have given fans something to cheer about at last.
"Delighted with the result," Neville said. "Delighted with the clean sheet. Thought we made it damn hard for ourselves. We fought a lot to achieve it. We like to make the Valencia fans suffer a bit, but I am happy for them that we give them a semifinal.
"They deserved that moment, have been patient with me over these five or six weeks. We need to give them joy."
Valencia were much the better team through the first half and into the second period, but a team lacking in confidence sat deeper and deeper towards the end, and Australian goalkeeper Maty Ryan made a couple of fine saves to ensure Las Palmas did not equalise and take the tie to extra time.
"The game was comfortable for us for 60 minutes, we should have scored two or three goals, but we suffered quite a bit towards the end," Neville said. "I've played in games like this, where you protect what you have, instead of playing your normal game and doing what we had been doing really well.
"As coach I'm happy with the result, but I was happier with performance in first leg and at Depor, although both were draws. The players gave everything, worked so hard again. Important goal last weekend at Deportivo, and the momentum continues tonight."