Republic of Ireland head coach Carla Ward heaped praise on her players after Friday's 4-0 Nations League defeat of Greece, and insisted things are starting to click.
Ward, still stewing over February's 4-0 hammering by Slovenia, demanded a reaction in Crete.
She got one - but only after Katie McCabe and Marissa Sheva had been sprung from the bench at half-time to inject the Girls in Green with some badly needed energy.
The game was scoreless at the break; by the end, it was a cakewalk, as Sheva, Kyra Carusa, Jessie Stapleton and Amber Barrett goals crushed the Greeks' spirit.
"Concerned, but not concerned," she replied when asked by RTÉ Sport if the lethargic opening period had been a worry.
"There's a lot of new messages going in. On the back of Slovenia as well, there'll be some natural human nerves, we're human beings, it's natural to doubt a little bit. It was just a case of, stay calm, stick to what we want to go after. And we did that.
"I keep saying it, we've not had long on the grass. The amount of things we did in the week that have come to life today, particularly in the second half, was great to see.
"I thought the second half was superb."
"I think it was a squad effort, everyone has been brilliant."
Ward did not indulge in some Greek plate smashing at the break despite obviously being frustrated at that slog of a first half.
"At half-time it was actually a really calm message," she insisted. "We probably weren't looking at the spaces we wanted to, we probably weren't looking to stretch them.
"I think stretching them earns you the right to play, it drops them off. We needed to do that a little bit more and when we did that, increased the tempo on the ball, started to engage them a little bit more... I thought it was much better.
"We knew (McCabe, recovering from a calf strain) had 45 in her and it was a choice, do we start her and potentially have to bring her off? For me, I wanted to try and go the other way. She's made a massive impact, as has Marissa. I think it was a squad effort, everyone has been brilliant."
The boss did reserve special praise for some.
"Bless her, she's obviously just joined Sunderland and has had a heavy couple of weeks," Ward said of Sheva, who made a real impact on her introduction.
"That was probably a little bit in the decision making, but we know what she's capable of. She's a little livewire in there isn't she? She links the play and causes a little bit more problems. I thought she did tremendously well."
On Stapleton, the player of the match at centre-half, she added: "I said before the game I think she's got huge, huge potential. She's just somebody I think is going to be a top, top player for this country. When she got the goal I was delighted but her overall play was very, very good.
It was also a special evening for Barrett, who came off the bench to win her 50th cap and then slammed home the fourth goal at the death.
"What an individual, what a great human being to work with," said Ward.
"She said to me after, 'thank you for giving me the opportunity', but actually thank you for getting that final goal. That's what she's capable of. She comes in, she's a big moment player, but let me tell you now, what a wonderful character to work with."
