Willie Kirk says Leicester City are "far from done" after Hannah Cain earned a Women's Super League win at Liverpool to lift their survival hopes.
The Foxes forward peeled off her marker and guided a short Courtney Nevin corner through a sea of bodies into the net.
CJ Bott was inches from doubling their advantage as Liverpool goalkeeper Rachael Laws scrambled to divert her well-struck long-range effort on to the crossbar.
Victory moved Leicester, bottom of the table, to within a point of a position of safety.
"Everybody wrote us off," Kirk said. "Everybody said it was gone, it was done. People were almost playing as a build-up to next season.
"This group is far from done. We've got a lot of points left in us yet, I think. I think it will be really sweet come the end of the season when we've proven a lot of people wrong."
Liverpool looked sluggish for most of the first half after their slow start to the game but came out re-energised after the break and put Leicester under continued pressure.
Their best chance of the game went begging as Ceri Holland was denied by Janina Leitzig inside the six -yard box before substitute Natasha Dowie hit the crossbar with the rebound, while Missy Bo Kearns came agonisingly close in injury time.
And a Leicester side who seemed reassured by their early goal remained composed in the face of pressure as they clung on to secure only their second victory of the season.
The Foxes, who have six points, now sit one point behind second-bottom Reading with a game in hand. Liverpool are eighth with 11.
"The three points is huge," Kirk added. "I think the biggest thing today was the girls have seen and felt that you don't always need to play well to get three points.
"It wasn't pretty, it was definitely relentless [from Liverpool] and we needed that. We spoke this morning about how the match is about 12% of your working week and it's about how hard you're working the rest is how you get these results.
"They're working so, so hard in training, so diligently in everything they do. That's the reward you get."
Liverpool's slow start proves costly
Leicester City goalkeeper Leitzig, on loan from Bayern Munich, set a WSL record last weekend when she made 16 saves against Manchester City.
Sunday's first half could not have been more different as she was rarely tested by Liverpool's front line.
The Reds' top scorer, Katie Stengel, was isolated at the top of the attack and didn't even have a touch in Leicester's penalty area before she was substituted in the 61st minute.
Slow starts have plagued Liverpool's campaign, with them failing to score a first-half goal in nine of their 13 league games.
It has been the same situation in defence, with their six goals conceded in the first 15 minutes of games the most of any club.
"We can't keep waiting until half-time to do it," Liverpool manager Matt Beard said.
"We've worked well all week, we've had a great week in training, and then you go out and don't do it and that's super frustrating. We've just got to take this one on the chin."
Their second half brought about a fightback as the introduction of Dowie and Sofie Lundgaard helped to light a fire in their front line.
Kearns also tested the visitors' defence, having a shot cleared off the line deep into added time as it looked as if Liverpool were destined for a leveller.
Beard added: "It was a frustrating afternoon. We created so much today and we shouldn't have lost the game.
"If you don't take your chances... and it's been our Achilles heel in some of our games this year... but you can't change it now it's happened.
"We've had three or four clear-cut chances today and you'd expect us to convert at least two of them if you're going to go on average."
Yet Leicester only had to face five shots on target and scurried after the ball at every available opportunity as they looked to stave off the threat of the drop.
Manchester City loanee Ruby Mace acted as a steadying presence at the base of the visitors' midfield and the rest of the defence remained persistent in their pressure to crush Liverpool's hopes of scoring.
Leicester's fighting spirit enabled them to grind out result that keeps alive their dream of securing WSL safety.
