Marcus Bignot praised the mental toughness of his Chester FC side as they booked their place in round two of the FA Trophy with a penalty shootout win over AFC Fylde.
Ross Hannah had given the Blues the lead on 52 minutes before Serhat Tasdemir levelled at the death to force extra time.
Danny Rowe then gave the Coasters the lead before Lucas Dawson clipped home a leveller just before the 100 minute mark to force penalty kicks.
And when Jonny Smith blazed over with the shootout scores tied at 4-4, up stepped Andy Halls to put the Blues into the hat for the next round and earn them £6,000 in the process.
Said Bignot: "First and foremost, being in the next round is the most important thing because we spoke about December and January being important with regards to mindset. That's two games now where we have got our rewards so hopefully we can continue to do that.
"We're going in the right direction. They are giving me everything and there is still a lot more to come.
"(Their equaliser) could have really knocked us back psychologically because you are so near getting and result, and not only that you have to play another half hour of football.
"Credit to the players, it's been a good start to December so far."
All five Chester penalties were of the highest standard, and Bignot believes the Three Lions should take a leaf out of their book.
"When it was asked of us if we wanted to settle it on the day we said yes, but I didn't think it was going to go penalties," said Bignot.
"We practised them yesterday (Friday) and I thought all five were very excellent penalties, and so were theirs to be honest. Credit to our boys, five out of five - the England national team could take a lesson out of that!"
