Assistant boss Martyn Pert was delighted to see the Blues claim victory from what he knew would be a tough game at Sunderland on Sunday, believing the team coped well, growing into the match after a difficult opening spell and going on to win 2-1.

Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst netted the goals which saw Town to their first Championship win since May 2019.

“A really good result,” Pert said. “When the fixtures came out, you’re excited because you know you’ve got a massive stadium to go to, a big club to go to in the first game and it’s a real start to the Championship.

“Really excited when the fixtures came out, we knew it was going to be a tough game, and it certainly was that first part of the game.

“And then the lads did really well, I thought they did really well to deal with it and to cope with that.

“You really can’t do that in pre-season, no matter how much you try and prepare for it with games against tough opposition like RB Leipzig and Werder Bremen, you don’t really get that real adrenaline of the crowd going into it.

“It was interesting to see how we coped with it and we did well enough. Obviously there are things that we could have done better but we did well enough and it’s great to get that victory, the first one of the season.”

He added: “It really gets you going in terms of the adrenaline and really getting you into the season straight away. The crowd and the noise and the general feel of it is different, so really good to experience it and to get the result from it.”

Regarding the first 20 minutes, which were dominated by the Black Cats, who finished sixth in the division last year before being beaten in the play-off semi-finals, he said: “I think the players addressed it, obviously the manager tweaked it, but it’s very difficult to address it in that first 10 or 15 minutes.

“It’s about coping with it and making good decisions and I think gradually we were able to do that and eventually got a foothold in the game.

“And coming out in the second half after the manager made the tweaks at half-time, I thought we really put our stamp on the game and had a really good 20-25-minutes spell just after half-time.”

Pert says that spell showed that the Blues weren’t prepared just to sit back: “I think that’s the ethos of what we’re trying to do in terms of being brave with the ball. We’ve done that since we’ve been here and there’s no better place to show that than when you go to the biggest stadium in the league and try and show your football.

“We definitely said that before the game and it’s obviously a little bit more difficult at the start with the noise and the adrenaline and really showing their level as well.

“They’re a good team and they had some good spells with the ball and gradually we were able to really stamp our authority on the game.”

Photo: TWTD

BlueInBerks added 13:06 - Aug 8 Would love to know what was said at half time, as from the first minute of the second half they were transformed and dealt with the Sunderland high press really well
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