Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon took the positives as his side gained a point away at Southend United on Saturday afternoon.
Rovers were forced into a goalless stalemate with Sol Campbell’s Shrimpers at Roots Hall, but Mellon was pleased how his defenders battled to secure a clean sheet on the road in Essex.
Mellon said: “You respect everywhere you go. We’ve brought players into the back four and back five, and we looked miles better, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.
“The positives are that that we came away with a clean sheet and we looked better defensively.
“We weren’t able to turn our advantage at some points in the game into a goal and three points.”
Mellon feels that added quality in front of goal could have been the difference for Rovers, with attention now turning to Tuesday night’s Emirates FA Cup third-round replay at home to Watford.
The boss added: “We came away from home and got a clean sheet, that is the positive of it. But we try and win every game that we take part in, so we’re disappointed to come away from here with a draw and that when we did get opportunities, we didn’t take them.
“It was a game that was crying out for a bit of quality which we needed in the final third when you got in there, and we lacked that today.
“The longer it goes, the tighter the game becomes because obviously both teams don’t want to lose the game.
“We did everything we could. We changed it, we got players further up the pitch to try and cause them problems, but we just weren’t able to find that bit of quality which we needed to get the victory.”
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