A draw and a clean sheet are better than a defeat.
It may be stating the obvious, but James Tomkins was quick to point to the positives of Tuesday's 0-0 npower Championship draw with Bristol City.
West Ham United dominated their visitors for long periods at the Boleyn Ground, only for a combination of stubborn defending and wasteful finishing to cost them all three points.
Centre-back Tomkins and his defensive colleagues, meanwhile, were largely untroubled by the Robins as an attacking threat, with only a smattering of long-range shots and a flurry of late corners to concern them.
"We had our chances to win the game but we didn't put them away," said the No5. "We didn't lose, which was the main thing, and we got a point out of it but we expected to win this kind of game. On another day, those chances go in.
"I think they defended really deep but we did create our chances and we could have won the game. We had three or four good chances and didn't put them away, which is frustrating."
The only blot on West Ham's defensive night was the loss of Winston Reid with a dislocated shoulder after just seven minutes.
Having suffered a similar injury twice during his time within the Academy, Tomkins knows how painful such a dislocation can be.
"It's been frustrating for me having a few weeks out with my groin injury, but hopefully I've got that out of the way now and I can keep pushing on.
"Reidy has done really well so what has happened to him with his shoulder is really unfortunate. Hopefully it's not too serious. Things can happen like that but he'll be back strong soon.
"We just need to keep defending well. We kept another clean sheet on Tuesday which was a bonus for us defensively because doing so always gives us a chance to go on to win."
With Reid absent, Tomkins is likely to partner Abdoulaye Faye at the heart of the Hammers' defence at Hull City on Saturday.
Despite the fact West Ham are also likely to be missing the extra creative quality of Matt Taylor and Henri Lansbury, the 22-year-old is convinced the Hammers can maintain their outstanding away record at the KC Stadium.
"I think we have got enough quality in the team. At times we showed our quality against Bristol City. Hull is a massive game and we need to get the three points to keep the pressure on Southampton and keep ourselves going, really.
"We are unbeaten in our last few games now and just need to keep our run going. Hull is the next step and it's a big game."