Lee Bullen is adamant his Ayr United side are making real progress after a hard won point against Dunfermline.
A spectacular own goal from Lewis Martin cancelled out Col Donaldson's early opener for the Fifers.
And Ayr went on to have the better of a lively contest played out in horrendous conditions, giving Bullen confidence heading into Wednesday's Ayrshire derby.
He said: "We are creating the chances and I thought we handled the conditions really well.
"We showed a bit of bravery to try and pass the ball and I can see shoots of life.
"Hopefully the supporters can see it as well and we can take it into the derby game.
"The frustrating side is we're not getting the points that our performances justify at the moment but they will come.
"When we show the bravery required, we know that we can hurt teams.
"I feel the last three performances have been really strong from the boys and now it's about building the belief in each other.
"We can't afford to give away opportunities like we did early in the game for their goal but we stood up and came back well, and that was pleasing."
Donaldson pounced to fire the Pars ahead after a Steven Lawless corner had hung in the swirling wing and Ayr failed to clear their lines.
But United slowly grew into the contest with Kerr McInroy, in for his first start in the middle of the park, showing up particuarly well.
And they drew level thanks to an incredible own goal which saw Martin head a wind assisted Aidan McAdams goal kick past his debut keeper Jakub Stolarczyk.
United had chances after that with McInroy and James Maxwell both going close before half time.
With the wind at their backs in the second half, the Pars sensed their chance and Ryan Dow hit the post just after the restart.
But it was Ayr who were inches away from the lead when Donaldson produced a heroic clearance from under his own bar to deny Maxwell a tap in.
And the home side should have hit the front when a McInroy free kick was spilled to Mark McKenzie just two yards out but he somehow lashed the effort wide.
Pars sub Bobby Kamwa almost made himself an instant hero at the other end with a shot which rattled the post as the game ended all square.
Dunfermline boss John Hughes said: "Credit to both sides for trying to play football.
"I felt we really linked it up well in the first half and got our goal.
"We lost a bizarre goal due to the conditions and never really played the conditions in the second half."
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