Phil Parkinson admitted his 10-man Wrexham side had to dig deep to get the three points with a 1-0 win over Swindon.
James McClean’s early goal gave the visitors their first win at the County Ground since 1985.
Parkinson said: “I am so pleased with the win. We should have been out of sight as we had some really good chances to extend the lead and their ‘keeper made some good saves.
“The sending-off made it edgier than it needed to be.
“We had to show so many different qualities over the 90 minutes to get the three points and it is a really important win for us.
“When the fixtures came out everyone took a second look at it, I don’t think the EFL have done us any favours with Swindon away on Boxing Day.
“We had a lot of disruption this week and we had to rejig the team and the lads have responded in really good fashion with an important win.”
McClean gave Wrexham an early lead as he capitalised on a loose ball on the edge of the box, got away from a defender and turned beyond Lewis Ward.
Ward had to be at his very best to keep the game in the balance after 59 minutes as Anthony Forde picked out Sam Dalby with a cross, his bullet header looked destined for the bottom corner before the goalkeeper got down to push the ball to safety.
James Jones got his marching after 75 minutes for a pair of yellow cards, the second coming after he brought down Tyrese Shade as he looked to burst into the area on the left.
Jake Young and Saidou Khan both had glorious chances to find a leveller for Swindon as they forced Wrexham back, but neither could find the target with their finishes from inside the penalty area.
Michael Flynn said that he felt his Swindon side had been much the better team after the break and were worthy of getting something from the game.
He said: “It was a poor goal for us to give away after I felt that we had started the game brightly and then we went a little bit flat after that.
“But in the second half I think we had a right go and they stuck together and with better finishing we would have won the game.
“I would say the red card helped later on in the game but we were already on top at that point.
“They had a bit of a period in the second half when Lewis Ward had to make a good save, but as long as it was 1-0 we were still in the game.
“With that little bit of quality in the final third we would have got the points.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
Vlahovic out of Juventus clash with Milan
Dusan Vlahovic will miss Juventus' trip to Milan in Serie A this weekend and is also a doubt for the Champions League game at Aston Villa, head coach Thiago Motta has confirmed.
Vlahovic returned from the international break with a muscle problem in his left thigh, and the manager, after he confirmed the Serbian's absence for Saturday's game at San Siro, was asked about his chances of playing on Wednesday at Villa Park.
"I don't know. He definitely won't be there tomorrow. We hope to have him back as soon as possible," Motta told a press conference on Friday.
"Injuries are part of football. Now it's Vlahovic's turn, but we'll keep playing with the same principles, attacking and defending together."
Vlahovic is the latest of Motta's injury problems at Juventus. Argentine winger Nicolas Gonzalez missed the last six league games and is still unavailable, while Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik is a long-term absentee.
Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz will also miss the game with Milan and defender Juan Cabal recently suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury, the same issue which will keep fellow defender Gleison Bremer out for the rest of the season.
"I'm really disappointed for Cabal because, like Bremer, he'll be out for a long time," Motta said.
"This is another reason to push ourselves, to commit that bit more so that these absences don't weigh too heavily."
Juventus go into the game as the only unbeaten side in Serie A but find themselves sixth in the standings in what is so far a very tight title race, with just two points separating Motta's side from leaders Napoli.
"It's very balanced and this is good for both us and the public," Motta said.
"We must all try to continue like this. We have to try to get as many positive results as possible."
Milan are one place behind Juve but six points off Motta's side.
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