Stoke boss Steven Schumacher was brimming with pride after his side held promotion-chasing Ipswich to a goalless draw.
The Potters had the better chances, but they had to hold on for dear life after Jordan Thompson was sent off in the second half.
Schumacher took over the reins at the Staffordshire club last month and they are now six unbeaten; but with only one win in the past two months.
“I’m really pleased and proud of the players,” reflected Schumacher. “They put some effort in for the fourth game in a row in 10 days against a tough team.
“I’m really proud of them because we’ve managed to get a result which I felt we deserved.
“We played really well for 20-25 minutes and caused lots of problems. We couldn’t get ourselves in front.
“I felt just before the red card we were back on top, but the red card changed it.
“For 25 minutes, we’ve had to dig deep and fight for a point. Thankfully the lads have done that and I’m really pleased. They deserved it.
“The team spirit is the most pleasing aspect. It shouldn’t be easy to come here and play. We need to make it a tough game and it should be a tough place to play and it should be.
“The atmosphere was brilliant. The fans got behind us when we really needed them for the last five or ten minutes there.
“I’m really pleased, we got a result because we played really well.”
Ipswich remained in the top two despite going a fifth game without a win – their longest such streak in the league since April 2022.
Tractor Boys’ boss Kieran McKenna rued a big chance after his side failed to make the most of the man advantage.
He said: “We would have liked to have won. But I saw a lot of good things in the performance.
“With the schedule it doesn’t make it any easier, but I saw a lot of good things.
“It was a tough start. But after that we controlled the game really well and stayed brave.
“We got into some really good situations, but we were a first touch or half a yard away from getting a goal.
“We weren’t able to quite do enough after they went down to 10 men. It’s an advantage, but in other ways they were open and there was space to attack when they had 11.
“The crowd weren’t necessarily with them, but them the sending off galvanised them around that a little bit.
“They defended their box in numbers, but we weren’t able to do enough at the end of the game.
“That’s a frustration, but as a collective and individually there were a lot of good things.”
Ancelotti lauds Real Madrid goalscorer Vinicius after first-leg double
Carlo Ancelotti believes Vinicius Junior is constantly developing his attacking output, after the Real Madrid forward delivered again in the Champions League.
Vinicius scored twice as Madrid drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday.
Those strikes took Vinicius to 31 goal involvements (16 goals, 15 assists) in the Champions League since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, which is more than any other player in the competition in the same time period.
Vinicius' opener came when he cut inside and latched onto an exceptional pass from Toni Kroos, and Ancelotti pointed out how the Brazil international is beginning to change how he attacks.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Ancelotti said: "Vinicius is starting to understand how important it is for him to move inside the pitch and not only close to the line.
"He's learned really well how to move. It was a fantastic pass from Kroos but a fantastic run from Vinicius."
Reflecting on his team's performance, Ancelotti said: "It was an interesting game, an open game of course – as it has to be for a semi-final. I think we could play better, I don’t think we played our best and we had problems in the first half.
"We started to put pressure on in the second half to level the game – it was much better.
"We are comfortable with a low block but we didn’t play with intensity. With a low block you have to have intensity, you have to win duels, second balls. We were too low. We tried to change something.
"The game was difficult at 2-1 down, but then we had the energy and character to equalise – the second part of the second half was really good."
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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