Lee Johnson cut an upbeat figure despite watching Bristol City’s play-off hopes suffer a significant dent on the banks of the Trent.
City, needing to win to keep in touch with the top six, were beaten 1-0 at Nottingham Forest courtesy of Tiago Silva’s terrific 63rd minute free-kick.
That wonderful piece of skill from the Portuguese midfielder was the one stand-out moment on an otherwise drab evening at the City Ground, a result which means the Robins have lost their last three since the restart, but Johnson was doing his best to stay positive.
"I'm very, very proud of the players today and it's soul-destroying that we've come out without any points because I don't think we deserved that,” he said.
"I can only apologise for the 10-game form, but we're talking about today," he said.
"We limited a very good side to nothing, really, apart from one bit of quality, I thought our boys were outstanding.
"Corey Smith and (Adam) Nagy in the middle completely controlled the game against three men.
"Results haven't improved, but the performances have and I still think that if we play like that for the last six games, I think we can get a lot of points out of them.
"I feel for the fans and everybody because I can assure you it's not for the want of trying.
"Myself and the players are doing absolutely everything we can and for whatever reason we're just not getting that rub of the green at the moment."
Any hopes of dragging themselves back into the game took a knock when the experienced Ashley Williams was dismissed for a needless shove on Forest’s Yuri Ribeiro, something which Johnson felt actually helped his side.
"I didn’t see the incident, but it sounded like a rush of blood which is disappointing from a senior player given that we’ve got 20 minutes left including extra-time to go and get the result.
"To be honest, after that with 10 men, I thought we were the better side."
City are six points and an inferior goal difference behind Cardiff who occupy the final play-off spot, while Forest move fourth, seven points above the Bluebirds with six games remaining.
