Neal Ardley praised the efforts of his Notts County players following their draw at Crawley on Easter Monday.
The Magpies played 40 minutes with 10 men following Ben Barclay’s dismissal but stood firm to earn a point in West Sussex after Craig Mackail-Smith’s early goal was quickly cancelled out by Ashley Nathaniel-George.
And, despite not recording the win he had hoped they would, Ardley feels the result could be important.
“I personally think it’s a massive point,” said the boss. “But that is only true if we get three against Grimsby on Saturday.
“At half-time we felt we could go on to win the game, but the sending off killed us because everything we said at the break went out the window.
“It’s hard to press with a man less so we had to limit Crawley because you can’t afford to be chasing the game - then it was about trying to nick a goal.
“Given what has happened, we have to take it as a good point. The lads were outstanding to keep going in the way they did with a man disadvantage and after playing in the heat on Friday and again today.
“The boys are all trying to be out there on the pitch and give it everything, which they have done the last two games - just without the rewards in terms of points.”
The gaffer’s attention now turns to Saturday’s home fixture against Grimsby, which he knows is vitally important.
“Saturday is massive because if we lose ground on the other teams, we’re done for,” admitted Ardley.
“We have six points to play for and it’s all on those two matches. We know if we don’t get the result we want in the first of those it could be all over.
“There’s huge pressure on it but we’ve been under that for a long time and we’ll keep fighting – if we win, we’ll take it down to the last game of the season.”
Click here to get your ticket for the Grimsby match.