Jon Daly took satisfaction from returning to Richmond Park with a win just weeks after being sacked by St Patrick's Athletic as he targeted more progress with Dundalk.
The result moved Daly’s new side off the bottom of the table as the Saints – under former Ireland boss Stephen Kenny – now face the possibility of being dragged into the relegation mire.
It was the former Pat's boss who was victorious on this occasion, coming at a crucial time for his new employer given the pressure on to move away from tenth place.
Daly said: "Obviously you come with a game plan and thankfully it worked and we defended really well at the end and probably created some really good chances in the second half on the counter-attack.
"But from my point of view, I know it's three points, whether it's against Derry, Pat’s or Shels, it's three points. I had a fantastic two years here, I loved my time here, and I've made a lot of friends here, and obviously the fans were great with me, had a lot of success here, but that's gone, that's moved on, and it's now full focus on Dundalk and trying to do as much as I possibly can to help them.
"It's always nice to come back and play against your old team, and I probably wasn't expecting to be back here as quickly as I was when I left. Obviously I went back to Scotland to my family. I was supposed to be in Turkey right now, so they're obviously over there on holidays and I'm here. "
Daly has made an impressive start with his four points from the last week to move ahead of Drogheda United.
There was prolonged celebrations at full-time as their opening target was achieved.
Daly explained: "The first task I set them was can we get off the bottom of the table? Can we do that as quickly as possible? Obviously, we made a point on Drogheda last Friday with the draw against Derry.
"You can see the boys were disappointed that they didn't get the three points, but it was still a point closer. And then it was just about trying to back up here, which we did, and we see the result there has got us off the bottom.
"So it's now about staying off the bottom and trying to keep picking up points. Obviously we have massive game on Friday against Shels who've had no game tonight. So they'll be fully charged and ready to go."
The new Dundalk manager was been taken aback by the positives which surrounds the club having had a different impression when managing against the Oriel Park side.
St Pat’s use Sport Ireland/FAI facilities in north Dublin as their training facility – which Kenny has spoken glowingly about since joining the Saints.
But for Daly he is happy to have ownership and a new outlook on the club.
He explained: "I've been pleasantly surprised by the group, the characters that are there, the experienced players, proper football players in terms of the standards that they set and the way they put demands on each other.
"So that's great to have in the changing room when you're in the situation that we're in. And then look, I've been to Dundalk as an opposing manager and I've been in that away changing room and I've been on the pitch and you're looking at it and thinking it's not great.
"But then when you actually go over to the far building and you look at the facilities that are there and the analysis room, the gym, even the changing room for the players, there's nothing stopping players at Dundalk improving.
"All the tools are there, so it really is a fantastic football club and I'm one that I'm pleasantly surprised by.
"Having your own training base is something that's new to me.
"Obviously Sport Ireland is great for Pat’s but it's not yours, so you can't just go as you please, so being able to pick and choose times that you train and stuff like that, it's just new to me.
"It's obviously not new to Dundalk but it's new to me and it's something that I'm obviously really really pleased with."
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