Heimir Hallgrimsson praised his players' resolve as the Republic of Ireland earned a comeback victory over Bulgaria in their UEFA Nations League play-off second leg but acknowledged that conceding early goals had become a "trend".
Ultimately giving away the first goals in both legs in Plovdiv and Aviva Stadium respectively did not matter in the final outcome as the Boys in Green fought back for consecutive 2-1 wins to seal League B survival on a 4-2 aggregate margin.
"It seems to be some kind of a trend to concede the first goal from the first attack they got. Obviously disappointing but good that we came back," the Ireland manager told RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue.
"I think at the moment we conceded, we were in good control so it's little bit of a slap and you can feel we lost that little bit of momentum with conceding a goal.
"But credit to the guys, they came back and played a little bit more simple in the second half.
"I think that was the key. We were complicating it, taking too many touches, playing it too short, too many times.
"But once we got into the spaces and crosses and stuff, we created more so all credit to the guys today."
Heimir Hallgrímsson says it seems to be a trend for his side to concede a goal from the opponents first attack.
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Hallgrimsson had made two changes from Thursday's starting XI with Evan Ferguson and Jake O'Brien called upon in Dublin.
That meant some adjustments to the tactics particularly for attacking midfielder Finn Azaz who ultimately impressed in both legs.
"Finn is so clever as a player, so creative, he can play whatever position we put him in but he's really the strongest where he is finding the pockets behind the forward players whether it's wingers or striker," said Hallgrimsson, adding that he had seen "good signs of growth" during this camp.
"But obviously we would like everybody to be fit and the good thing about today was two strikers scored and it's a big competition, everybody is unhappy not to be playing and that is how it should be.
"But credit to them, they get a chance and they make their feet do the talking and that is how it should be."
