Nigel Pearson is keen to stay grounded after his exciting Bristol City side moved up to third but admitted the players are reaping the rewards for showing belief in themselves.
The 3-2 scoreline flattered Blackburn with the Robins dominant in all areas of the field as Tommy Conway's first-half header and Nahki Wells' double stretched City's unbeaten record to eight in all competitions.
In truth, the Robins should have scored more with Wells and Andi Weimann guilty of missing chances but the visitors looked confident in possession and dangerous on the counter-attacking, striking fear into the Blackburn Rovers backline when they moved the ball forward at pace.
Question marks will be asked of the defence after conceding twice in such a dominant performance but overall the backline looked comfortable, marshalled by the highly impressive Kal Naismith at the back.
Wells will grab the headlines as he enjoys his resurgence in the side but Alex Scott was sensational in the middle and Pearson admits there's a confidence in the team that has put them in a very good place.
"I'd rather be third than bottom," he joked. "It doesn't mean anything but I suppose it's a reward for the hard work the players have put in.
"The players believe in themselves and each other and that's really important to recognise. We've had a pretty positive start, we lost our first two games but we've played well in patches in all our games and the reality is we feel we've had chances to win in every game we've played but I'm also a realist.
"It's been a tough journey to get us where we are but at least we are making progress and that's very pleasing for our fans as well. They can see that even if the players make mistakes, the players are having a real good go at trying to win it.
"I thought we always looked dangerous on the counter and I think our possession football looked good too. It was good to mix it up and we looked pretty solid when we defended set plays so at the start of the second half.
"Blackburn had a number of corners and we looked really solid. There's really healthy competition for places at the moment and that's something which is very important for us."
Pearson is aware of the challenges that await in the future given the relentless nature of the Championship. They have a welcome break until next weekend before gruelling trips to Norwich and Burnley within the space of four days but he's pleased with how his side is dealing with the challenges.
He added: "We're going okay and hopefully people can see there is a progression for us and we've got some young exciting players and they're dealing well with the challenge as is the whole squad.
"We don't have a big squad and that will be a challenge for us at some point in the season when we have suspensions or injuries but I also think it's the group of players are very close and we're in a pretty good place at the moment."
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