Ryan Lowe felt Preston North End came out a different side in the second half to earn victory against Bristol City.
The two sides went into half-time goalless at Deepdale, with both goalkeepers making decent saves in the opening period.
Opting to bring on Emil Riis, Mads Frøkjær and eventual scorer of two Will Keane at the break quickly turned the game in North End’s favour, and the Lilywhites came out 2-0 winners.
Ryan said: “There’s a little bit of relief as well I think all round. The first half was a little bit flat.
“We tried. We huffed and puffed. Fred (Freddie Woodman) made a few good saves to keep us in the game and then at half-time I felt I needed to make some bold decisions to get a few more attacking players on the pitch. We did and it paid off.
“I thought we were excellent in the second half. I said to the lads, 'Let’s get back to being us'. The game was there. Whoever scored first was going to go on and win the game which we knew and it’s easy to say that, but that’s what we were thinking.
“We stayed in the game in the first half and second half we came out a different team. We were right on the front foot and I thought the fans were excellent with us in the second half.
“That’s because maybe we made those changes and were more on the front foot. We go out and get three points, score two goals, get a clean sheet which is massive, so I’m absolutely pleased.”
The three subs at the break certainly added impetus to the match, and it was two of them which ultimately made the difference, with Keane at the double and Riis assisting the second of those.
With North End winless since the Boxing Day victory over Leeds United – the previous home fixture – the manager knew the importance of getting back to winning ways against the Robins, and ahead of a trip to Elland Road.
“I said in my programme notes today we wanted to get our Championship campaign back on track and I said that to the players," added Ryan.
“We’ve been in all week and worked on several things. They’re a good team and a good set of lads, and they’ve got to have more belief.
“I think we all have and we’ll see where it takes us. To be two points outside the Play-Offs now – I know the league’s crazy and we’re not getting too carried away – is credit to the group as well.
“We’re not far off and if we start believing a bit more then we’ll go to Leeds [with confidence]. We know it’s going to be a tough encounter, but it was tough when we played them here.
“We’ve got to embrace that a little bit more and we’ve got to have that little bit of pride and passion that we can go wherever we’re gonna go and perform and hopefully get wins.”