A week on from Waterford's shock defeat to Carlow in their Allianz Hurling League Division Division 1B opener, manager Peter Queally admitted that securing a victory over Laois came as a relief, even if the performance left something to be desired.
Perhaps inspired by Carlow, a Laois outfit aiming for a first win over Waterford in 41 years, trailed by just 1-13 to 0-12 at the interval.
However, the home side finished strong at Walsh Park to wrap up a 1-27 to 0-20 win.
"We're happy with the result, but definitely not the performance," Queally said in his post-match interview with RTÉ Sport.
"We were very patchy at times and very undisciplined. They scored a lot from frees and probably missed a few as well, which would have made it tighter.
"The main thing coming into today was to get the result. We would have been happier with a better performance, but we'll get a few lads back in the next few weeks and knuckle down hard and train."
Reflecting on a trying seven days after that chastening loss to Carlow, Queally added: "There were a lot of different emotions. There was a lot of disappointment, obviously, but there was a lot of anger, too.
"We were very disappointed with our performance and the way we played on the day.
"That's not taking anything away from Carlow. They outhurled us on the day and thoroughly deserved their victory, but I won't lie to you, it was a tough week.
"In fairness to the lads, they responded well on Tuesday and Friday.
"I thought maybe, due to the pressure that was on us, we were a bit nervy at times, but we just need to knuckle down and concentrate on hurling well."
Laois are two games in and have two losses to their name. Queally's opposite number Tommy Fitzgerald feels their free count has been an issue against both Waterford and Offaly in the first round.
"The frees was a big one, especially in the second half," he said.
"I'm not sure what the stats are... but we conceded way too many frees in the second half and then down the other end we weren't converting on our own so it was a killer."
Fitzgerald's side ended up a respectable four points down at the half, with Padraig Fitzgerald putting 13 placed balls over in total, it was a similar affair last weekend.
"It was the same last week, Brian Duignan got 10 points from frees as well so it's obviously something we need to look at," explained Fitzgerald.
The Laois native has only been in charge for two games and admits they have room for improvement but is feeling optimistic about the future.
"We're probably late starting back... a bit of work to do, I thought we tired a bit towards the end.
"We'll get there over the next couple of weeks and months and if the players keep giving us the commitment that we've been given so far, we'll be OK in the long run."
