Andy Butler was proud of the Belles performance despite a narrow 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest Ladies in the FA WNL Plate.
Mai Moncaster's first-half header was the difference between the two sides but Jasmine Saxton and Jess Price both went close to pulling one back for the Belles in the second half.
Butler said: “We asked them to adopt a new approach and I thought we gave a great account of ourselves.
“Our attitude was fantastic. There were a lot of good individual performances but collectively, the team were superb.
“Conditions were similar to last week so it was very windy but we didn’t get frustrated when we didn’t have the ball and overall it was an outstanding performance.”
Butler praised the counter-attacking prowess of the team especially in the second half.
He added: “The wind started to quieten down towards the end of the first half and I said to the team let’s use the counter-attack again in the second half.
“I thought we had some good counter-attacks so pleasing to watch. I am very proud of how they applied themselves."
Izzy Trevillion was forced off with an injury in the second half but Butler believes it's not too serious.
He added: “I think she hurt her shoulder, but I think she will be fine, I think she jarred it into the ground. We checked it’s nothing too serious."
Belles head back out on the road on Sunday when they travel to Stoke City for the Vitality FA Cup.