Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne Rooney believes his side are improving despite their 1-0 loss to Stoke City in the Championship.
A late goal from Million Manhoef gave former Pilgrims boss Steven Schumacher victory in his first game back at Home Park since he departed the club last year.
Rooney, who is still waiting for his first league win as Argyle boss, told BBC Radio Devon he was encouraged by what he saw.
He said: “I think we’re improving: The players are understanding the roles I want from them and I think we’ve played the last three games with a consistency in terms of how we want to play.”
Comparing Saturday’s performance to their 4-0 opening day-loss to Sheffield Wednesday, Rooney added: “I think the players have taken in a lot of information and they’ve done it really well.
“The first game was really disappointing, but since then there’s been three really tight results.”
Following the defeat against Wednesday, Plymouth went on to earn hard-fought points against both Hull City and QPR.
“Going forward we are getting the ball into dangerous areas but players need to be in the right positions in the middle of the goal,” Rooney explained.
“If we are clinical and ruthless we win [against Stoke] and you could be sitting here with more points, but we haven’t been clinical enough.
“There’s quite a lot of positives but we have to get the final third right.”