Andy Robinson hailed Scotland's draw with England as a 'step forward' despite admitting his side had wasted another opportunity to record a first Six Nations win of the campaign.
England retained the Calcutta Cup after a topsy-turvy war of attrition ended in a 15-15 draw at Murrayfield.
It was the first draw in the fixture since 1989, when Scotland coach Robinson made his only appearance as a player.
Scotland dominated possession and territory, especially in the first half, but was let down again by its inability to turn pressure into tries.
"You've got to work hard for your tries," added Robinson, who narrowly failed to become the first Englishman to lead Scotland to a Calcutta Cup victory.
"When we put England under pressure there were a couple of occasions when we chose the wrong options.
"We're learning and what you saw today was an improvement from Italy. It will come."
The result means Scotland will finish with the wooden spoon if it fails to win in Ireland next Saturday.
"I'm really looking forward to Ireland," said Robinson. "The players took another step forward this week.
"I thought we played positive rugby, I thought we moved England around and, credit to their defence, they held up well.
"I thought we created opportunities and I thought the way we tried to play with the counter attack and some of the attacking plays we put on was very good.
"Unfortunately, again, we couldn't get over the line. But I'm really, really pleased with the way the team tried to play and played."
Referee Marius Jonker was extremely strict at the breakdown but failed to show one yellow card, much to Robinson's frustration.
He said: "At one stage we thought it was in his pocket and coming out but he put it back in again."
There was also a succession of reset scrums which added to a game which lacked any real flow.
"It would be nice for the scrums to be kept up from both sides," Robinson added. "It was pretty frustrating the amount of times we had to reset scrums.
"I guess the International Rugby Board [IRB] will need to look at that again."
However, Robinson refuted suggestions the game had been boring.
"I don't know about you but I was very entertained," he said. "If you'd have gone out there and played in that game, you'd have realised how physical that game was."
Robinson singled out his back row for special praise, adding: "I thought the back row had an immense game and Johnnie Beattie, Johnny Barclay and Kelly Brown were - as discussed on Friday - pretty up for this game."
Brown was forced from the field after a sickening clash of heads with Ugo Monye but Robinson played down the Glasgow flanker's injury as a 'head knock'.
Captain Chris Cusiter was as frustrated as his head coach with the outcome.
"I think with the amount of ball we had and the way we were playing, we could've won the game," he said.
"Overall, we feel we're making progress. It wasn't the result we're after but it's a point nonetheless.
"After what's gone on in this championship, particularly what happened in Cardiff, it's a step in the right direction.
"We're frustrated we didn't get the win because it was there for the taking."
Martin Johnson admitted England did not do enough to deserve victory and summed up a stop-start encounter as a 'a tale of missed