After the Newcastle United victory it was a very positive Lee Johnson who saw his team fight back from a 1-0 deficit.
Johnson said, “There is so much food for thought. The team that played in the last 35 minutes had quite a few people who came to the fore and showed they can compete at that sort of level. I was really pleased with the fitness levels. In the first 20 minutes, we couldn’t get to grips with them. Siem de Jong kept getting into the gap and was causing us problems. After that we got into it more and had a few chances. We had corners and chances to get shots off. Obviously, it was a fantastic goal from them and sometimes you have to hold your hands up. On the rebound De Jong had one touch and stuck it into the top corner, so fair play to him for that.”
“When the substitutes came on they looked energetic, bright and played the ball at the right time. And we scored two fantastic goals. And it was good that our concentration levels stayed so high against their quality. Generally, I was delighted as we showed the group is fit and mobile and pacey for our level. It is early days, though. We were unbeaten in the last pre-season and then lost seven out of 10. But this was a good game as if our weaknesses were going to be exposed, it would have happened here.”