Ian Evatt praised his side’s resilience as they stood strong to earn an opening-day point at Ipswich Town.
Wanderers led the Tractor Boys through Aaron Morley’s penalty as they looked to become only the second side to win at Portman Road since last November.
But after conceding a Lee Evans’ equaliser seven minutes before the break, Wanderers then had to produce a superb rear-guard action for spells of the second half to secure a hard-earned 1-1 draw.
“It’s a very good point. I don’t think many teams will come here and get anything,” said Evatt.
“For the first 35 minutes I thought we had control and we were on the front foot.
“Their set-play rocked us really and came out of nothing and we had to get to half time.
“In the second half we didn’t link enough passes and have enough control.
“Credit to them. They’re a good team and they pressed us and caused us problems.
“We had to show a completely different side to us; resilience, energy, work ethic and being there for each other and I thought we did that in abundance.”
Wanderers chased a winner of their own in a wide-open second half but the better chances came Ipswich’s way and it took superb performances across Wanderers’ back line and an excellent injury-time save from James Trafford to give Evatt’s men a platform to build on at the start of the campaign.
“I asked the players before the game for energy and attitude,” added Evatt, who felt his side - now unbeaten in nine games either side of the summer break - might have add an even earlier penalty for a pull on Gethin Jones.
“They gave me that and just needed to add some more quality – especially in the second half.
“But Ipswich are a very good team and asked us lots of questions. Maybe in previous years under my tenure we would have lost that game.
“But we showed absolute resilience and attitude to stay in the game and get something out of it.
“It’s a really positive point. We’re off the mark and we know we’re going to have better performances throughout the season.
“We rode our luck at times but you make your own luck.
“Hard work puts you where good luck can find and I thought today hard work earned us that point.”