Although Saturday's game may have ended in a frustrating 2-1 defeat to Mansfield Town, manager Keith Curle said the commitment, desire, effort and application of his players to try and overcome the early goal against and the red card to Sam Hoskins was an encouraging sign ahead of the final nine games of the season.
"We started well but we made decisions that took the momentum away from us and we paid the price for that," he said.
"We were left chasing the game but even then I didn't think it looked like we were a man down.
"The effort, commitment, desire and application was all there in abundance, as was our attitude to try and get something out of the game.
"For the second goal, a little bit of indecision on the ball cost us and we have to accept it, but we have to learn from it.
"There were decisions we weren't happy with on Saturday but moaning about that won't change anything, we have to take that on the chin, learn and come back.
"We were always in the match and I felt we looked the more likely team to score for much of the game.
"We were brave and went man for man at the back, we sent people forward and I thought Harry Smith did really well when he came on.
"If you deliver balls in to the area then Harry will get on the end of them so while we were all disappointed with the outcome, there were things for us to take from the match.
"Mansfield broke the game up and slowed things down successfully, even when they were a man up, and they were able to do that.
"We have Forest Green Rovers this Saturday and we remain positive after last Saturday. The result and one or two decisions aside, we ticked a lot of boxes last week. The performance showed we are fighting hard, we are together, we have that work ethic you need and we are very much in the race."