Barry Bannan admitted it was a tough grind for Aston Villa to record their third Premier League victory of the season.
Paul Lambert's men finally ground down Reading at Villa Park to come away with a 1-0 win, courtesy of Christian Benteke's 80th minute header, which lifted them out of the relegation zone.
Villa were coming off an impressive 0-0 draw with Arsenal on the weekend and Bannan indicated that it was slightly more difficult to fight for a result against the Royals who were desperate for points themselves.
"There's less expectation against the big clubs and it was hard to come out tonight and win the game but we dug in and got the three points," he told Sky Sports 2.
"It's massive. We need to win games and it's big relief for us. There's been a lot of people talking about us being in the bottom three and it's hard to take.
"We've got to keep doing what we're doing and hopefully it's good enough. We've got a great team spirit here, we're all young lads and we're learning every day."
