Steve Morison insists critics cannot read too much into Cardiff City's second-half performance at Middlesbrough, adding he was pleased with the tenacity shown by his team in sealing a first away win of the season.
Goals from Callum O'Dowda, Mark Harris and a stunning solo effort from Perry Ng saw City head into the break three goals to the good during a simply stunning first-half performance on Teesside.
But having been on the front foot for the first 45 minutes, Cardiff were pinned back for much of the second half, and failed to muster a single shot on goal after the break as Boro dominated possession.
The drop in intensity, and some obvious nerves at the back, saw Middlesbrough nearly snatch a point, with Duncan Watmore and Rodrigo Muniz netting midway through the second half.
Cardiff, to their credit, held on, and claimed what will be seen as a well-earned win when the dust settles on their efforts.
"We're not Man City," Morison said afterwards. "We're never going to dominate a game for a full 90 minutes. It was always going to be a different game second half. They were going to throw caution to the wind.
"We were excellent first half. We had players where it was their first game for a while so they were going to fatigue and that happened.
"They got two goals in quick succession. The second goal is really naïve from us, but we made a couple of changes after that and it steadied the ship and Jack [Simpson] makes a tremendous block towards the end, and we go and win the game.
"Three goals away at Middlesbrough? It's a tremendous performance. We're not Man City. We're not Liverpool. We're not going to dominate games for 90 minutes. We tried to. We dominated the game without the ball tonight because we knew that when Middlesbrough have more of the ball they tend not to win as many games.
"The two games they've won, they've not dominated the ball, so we knew we could hurt them if we pressed right and at the right times. It was all about taking our chance when we got them and we did that first half.
"Second half, human nature, unless you're a top, top team, it's human nature to get a little bit edgy, a little bit nervous, to defend a little bit more, to get rid of the ball. We didn't kick the ball well enough second half, which caused us issues.
"But as we know, I've sat in front of you this year when we've played well and lost the game. Tonight we were excellent, and we won the game, so really pleased."
Morison has also confirmed that Joe Ralls won't be available for the upcoming clash with Huddersfield Town on Saturday, after the captain was forced off just before the break.
"He's injured," he continued. "He had to come off. He won't be available for the weekend. Hopefully we'll use the international break wisely."
Meanwhile, Boro boss Chris Wilder believes his side deserved to emerge with all three points, following their second-half efforts.
"I think we should have won it," the Boro boss said.
"They've done enough to put themselves in deep and defend what they had to do. I don't think they got over the halfway line in the second half, but they did enough in the first half.
"We opened them up, opened them up, and opened up. We've got into so many positions. I think we've had 24 crosses. Everyone felt the frustration when it hit the first man. Or hit the second man. Not picked out that bit of quality."
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