Russell Martin thanked the Jack Army for the way they welcomed Jamie Paterson back into the first-team fold at Swansea City.
The attacker missed five Championship matches due to a contract dispute with the club's owners.
However, after the club rejected numerous bids from Queens Park Rangers for the playmaker during the January transfer window, Paterson remained at Swansea and made his first appearance in almost two months in the 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.
Paterson's name was chanted during the match while the 30-year-old registered an assist for Michael Obafemi's winner against Tony Mowbray's men.
"The fans the way they reacted to Pato coming in helped everyone. It certainly helped him and it certainly helped the team," said Martin.
"The last half an hour the place was bouncing and they played a massive part in how we held on and kept a clean sheet.
"We spoke about it before as a group of staff and I was pretty confident he would be welcomed positively because of what he's done this season.
"I don't see it as Pato's fault. It's really difficult to ignore the noise at times as a professional footballer, he wasn't able to do that very well, especially with social media and everything.
"Thankfully I don't think we have to talk about that ever again. He played brilliantly, he lasted 90 minutes somehow. Olivier [Ntcham] had to come off. He sets up a goal, a couple of moments of madness when he was tired, but we accept that with Pato.
"He's one of the bravest players we have. I'm just delighted he's back and I'm delighted we've been able to maintain a brilliant relationship."
Victory brought an end to Swansea's run of three games without a win while they kept their 12th league clean sheet of the campaign in the process.
It proved to be a significant moment for match winner Obafemi who notched his first home goal for the Swans following his move from Southampton last summer.
And Martin has revealed the striker's training ground work with Swansea's technical development coach Matt Gill fully paid off against the Lancashire outfit.
"Gilly has been working very hard with Michael on his heading recently," said Martin.
"His positioning has been great, something we work on a lot and his finish is really nice, and more importantly what he's put in for the team over recent weeks has been really great.
"He deserved that today. I'm really pleased for him. It takes some people longer than others to feel settled and to understand what they're part of. He's been on the pitch more because he's deserves to be.
"He's becoming accustomed to what is expected of him. The fans have really taken to him and I think that helps him and he needs to carry on doing what he's doing."
Swansea return to action at Stoke City on Tuesday night. Kick-off is at 7:45pm.
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