Jaap Stam praised his players' patience after Reading snatched a late 1-0 win at Cardiff City.
Yann Kermorgant's 89th-minute strike clinched Reading's first win in the Sky Bet Championship since the opening weekend.
That was despite several saves from goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi in the first half at Cardiff City Stadium to keep his side in the hunt for the late winner.
Stam said: "Like everyone else, I want to be successful so I'm always delighted when we win a game.
"I'm very proud of the players and how they reacted and the passion they put into this game.
"They are learning a different style of play but I told them if they keep believing, working hard and are patient then eventually we will start winning games.
"It was the same early on against Cardiff. We were up against a physically strong side who don't give away much space to pass. They pressed us high up and were winning back balls in midfield and had chances in front of goal.
"But we have worked a lot on not conceding stupid goals from set-pieces, as we did at Newcastle and Wolves, and got that out of our system.
"We kept our patience and picked it up in the second half. We controlled the game and created chances late on."
Al-Habsi saved long-range efforts from both Jazz Richards and Anthony Pilkington inside the opening 15 minutes.
Lex Immers, Matthew Connolly and Sean Morrison also put headers wide as Cardiff were made to pay for their wastefulness when Kermorgant thumped home substitute Jordan Obita's cross.
Cardiff manager Paul Trollope said: "I'm really frustrated. We prepared really well and created enough chances, especially in the first period, to be in front.
"We controlled the game and coped well with their game to limit them to a few chances. But you need to score goals in football and we should have been ahead.
"We had three very, very good chances from headers and didn't take them and then conceded that late goal that felt like a real sucker-punch.
"We thought we had this one in the palm of our hands at half-time and that we would go on to win. But not taking those chances came back to haunt us so we need to improve that."
Cardiff were booed at the end of the game by their fans after just one win from their first six games.
Trollope added: "I don't feel pressure but we are still searching for consistency through games. I understand the reaction. We've just lost at home and it's normal to be hugely disappointed but for the majority of the game, the fans were right behind the group."
Words from Sporting Life