Notts County caretaker manager Paul Hart was impressed with the endeavour of his battle-hardened troops in their 2-2 draw with Scunthorpe United.
Hart, in caretaker charge at Meadow Lane following the sacking of Shaun Derry last week, saw his team fall behind in the first minute as Theo Robinson struck on his Scunthorpe debut.By the Magpies hit back to level through Gary Jones and were heading for only their second home win since October when Balint Bajner climbed off the bench to score.
But Niall Canavan secured the Iron a point four minutes from time to leave both sides looking over their shoulders.
Hart said: "Second half we lost a little bit of confidence, which is understandable in this situation, but overall I'm really proud of the players. They can hold their heads up high.
"Each and every one of them worked their socks off and showed great endeavour.
"From a bunch of lads who were all over the place at the start of the week, with the loss of their manager and his assistant, they girded their loins and got at it.
"We dropped deeper in the second half, but that's understandable.
"People do feel the pressure of relegation and when it comes to trying to overcome it, it's one thing saying it and another thing doing it.
"There's something to build on. Certainly in the first half we took control of the ball and passed it around and looked like we could go on and get another goal.
"If we had done, we'd have been nicely placed to take the game on."