Waterford manager Peter Queally was content to take the two points after their Allianz Hurling League Division 1A win over Offaly but stressed it did not cover up for an "average" performance.
Having got back on track with a home win over Limerick last weekend, Waterford made heavy weather of overcoming of Offaly in a repeat of last year's Division 1B final.
Leading by just a point at the break, Queally threw returning marksman Stephen Bennett back into the fray, alongside Mark Fitzgerald, whom he'd been anxious to rest beforehand.
Reuben Halloran's second-half goal proved decisive as Waterford eventually broke clear to win by six, though Queally wasn't crowing about the display.
"I can't gloss over the fact that the performance was average," the Waterford manager told RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport afterwards. "There were a lot of tired bodies there, a lot of mistakes.
"[We were] the orchestrators of our own downfall in the first half. Very crowded, didn't really keep our width. Didn't really use our legs and our pace. The hurling was slow.
"In fairness, a couple of changes. Stevie [Bennett] made a big difference coming in, Mark Fitz[gerald] at half-time.
"We opened up a small bit then and used the ball a bit better, moved it a bit quicker and used the width a bit more, which helped us in the second half.
"Look, it was always a banana skin coming in here. There was the massive high of last week. It was a great response from the lads, which I knew we'd get, like. It's just to get that consistency now.
"You'd have to be happy with digging out a result and getting the two points, which is what it's all about at the end of the day."
Waterford, who began their league campaign with an alarmingly limp showing away to Cork, had been heavily impacted with injuries at the outset of the campaign, with the added complication of the Ballygunner contingent requiring a rest following their triumphant All-Ireland club campaign.
However, Bennett returned to action at half-time today, and Queally confirmed that others would soon be back, but former All-Star full-back Conor Prunty is ruled out for the league campaign.
"Unfortunately, Conor [Prunty] will miss the rest of the league. He has a bad enough injury with his quad.
"The next day we'll have Jack Prendergast back. He got the all-clear and he's shoulder operation so he's going to be a big addition.
"We'll have some of the Ballygunner fellas back as well. It will give us a nice headache against Kilkenny where there will be a few more fellas vying for games and for game time.
"We're not looking beyond the Kilkenny game now. That's two weeks time. It's a massive game for us.
"We're away to Kilkenny. Our record hasn't been great against them in the last year so it's going to be a massive test for us.
"It's physically tough but it's only going to stand to us. I suppose it's getting us ready for our Munster Championship, which is something similar.
"Maybe not three weeks in a row but certainly two weeks in a row with one week off and another two weeks.
"We just have to get used to that load and we have to get that strength and depth. We have to get that panel."
Offaly manager Johnny Kelly, meanwhile, expressed his annoyance at the inability to get messages onto the field.
Kelly cited his team's puckout issues once Fitzgerald and Bennett were introduced, and how they were unable to remedy them due to the restrictions on management getting messages onto the pitch.
"We lost our way with our own puck outs there in the third quarter," Kelly told Sunday Sport. "They brought on a couple of subs there, Mark Fitzgerald in particular and Stephen Bennett, and they shut off that puck out down our right-hand side here.
"You know, it's part of the problem we have here with the hurling. Like, we're not allowed to get a message onto the field anymore. And I just think that is absolutely crazy.
"Like, I don't know what's wrong when a coaching team or a management team are actually being hemmed into a box on the sideline.
"We understand why that was brought in. But there's no need for officials to actually ban all messages onto the field. It just doesn't make any sense.
"I'm not blaming that. Obviously, we have to take ownership of that on the field as well. But that would be a disappointment from our end.
"I heard Ben O'Connor on about it last night and he's 100% correct. Like, we need to be able to get messages onto the field.
"So, the obvious thing for us is a designated runner. And you know, the same restrictions apply to him or rules apply to him as everyone else.
"If he does something wrong to interfere with a player, that he gets a yellow card or a red card and he's gone and you lose your sideline privileges. It's very simple."
