Up against in-form opposition, Vieira’s side refused to be bowed by Bruno Fernandes’ first-half goal and ramped up the pressure in the second-half, earning a fully-merited draw thanks to Michael Olise’s wonderful injury-time free-kick.
Vieira said: “It was important not to lose the game. Against a team who have been playing well, it was important for us to stay in the game as long as we could, and we managed to take a fully-deserved point. I’m pretty pleased with that.
“It was not a relief at all, because our performances have been quite good. We’ve been unlucky not to get more points. Of course, the results say something different, so I was really positive with the players and the way we wanted to play the game, and insisting about what we’ve been doing really well.
“When you don’t win games, there are some parts you have to improve. When you go through a difficult period, you have to keep working well, and working hard. On the other side, we showed some resilience, and that will be really important for the rest of the season.
“We didn’t get the result that we wanted in a couple of recent games, but the process is there. We are creating chances, so it was important [for us] to keep the positivity about how we want to play the game.”