Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen was pleased with his side's second half performance in the 2-0 defeat at Stoke.
Wednesday are still waiting for a second win of the league season after goals from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Lamine Cisse.
Pederson praised his side defensively in the first half but admitted they got braver as the match went on.
"I think we had two different halves. First half, we defended well," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.
"We knew the first 15-20 minutes would be tough because Stoke are a team that is very good on the ball.
"We were organised and didn't concede any chances. We worked hard; we were not good enough or brave enough in transition.
"From the beginning of the second half we were brave, we played a really good game. We saw a lot of things that we did in training this week, but it was not enough."
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