Nigel Pearson has praised his side's tenacity and hard work after brushing aside an in-form Middlesbrough side to make it four wins in a row at Ashton Gate.
The Bristol City manager was looking for a reaction to last week's defeat at Swansea when he lambasted certain individuals for a lack of desire in the tackle.
Encapsulated by a superb Joe Williams making just his second start since November 24, City put their bodies on the line to salvage three huge points after Matt Crooks set up a nail-biting end after Andi Weimann and Antoine Semenyo proved their worth once again.
The Austrian grabbed his 16th goal of the season on seven minutes when he fired home Semenyo's superb assist. His strike partner then showed his undeniable class when he drilled a left-footed effort into the corner on 68 minutes.
Pearson said: "The application and commitment was excellent, we weren’t at our best today. We had players who didn’t quite fire in the way that they can do but they showed different qualities and a real tenacity and some moral fibre because other people have questioned that at times but it was a good result for us.
"We showed qualities which people who support teams appreciate and that is honesty and hard work as a baseline.
"On top of that we know we’ve got good players and talented players and we’ve got players at different stages of their career but they try to produce their best and that’s all I can ask of players.
"We continue to make errors of judgment but I’m really pleased for players about the result because we responded well after last week and people like Cam Pring who wasn’t selected to start today, his performance when he came on was very good."
The one downside to the victory was another case of conceding from a set-piece when Marcus Tavernier's corner was headed in by Crooks in the final stages of the contest.
City held firm to spare the wrath of Pearson and the manager was still eager to point out that there is work to be done to prevent his side from conceding soft goals.
"It’s something that keeps reoccurring and we can talk about it in a friendly way at the moment because we’ve got away with it," he added. "But at 2-0 to concede from the corner, we should have won the header which we didn’t and it makes the last few minutes a bit more anxious.
"I don’t very often have to question the effort and commitment, what I do question at times is our thought processes and whether that’s experience, ability or something else it doesn’t matter. It was important we got a good win today."
Pearson promised an "interesting" line-up and he certainly stuck to his word by making three changes. One was enforced with the return of Dan Bentley to replace the injured Max O'Leary in goal while Joe Williams and youngster Sam Bell were handed an opportunity to impress.
The latter, who usually plays as a forward, was deployed in an unfamiliar right wing-back role and put in an assured performance before eventually being substituted for Cam Pring in the second half.
Speaking of his performance, Pearson said Bell can take inspiration from his dad Mickey Bell who made 292 appearances for City between 1997 and 2005. He added: "He did very well. He was at wingback today and I thought he was great. I spoke to him the other day and said ‘speak to your dad.’ He’s played here long enough hasn’t he?
"His dad was a fullback, have a chat with him about it. Sam brought enthusiasm and even though he got caught out once or twice he played well.
"Someone like Dan Bentley who’s had to be patient for a few weeks because he’s been out of the side, I thought he had a good game for us."
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