Sunderland boss Chris Coleman praised his side's "terrific" display in their 1-0 win over Championship relegation rivals Hull City.
Joel Asoro's 20th minute winner ensured the Black Cats earned their first home win in 2018 and moved from the foot of the table to 22nd and level on points with the Tigers.
Coleman's side played with 'no fear'
Coleman spoke of his delight at the performance in his post-match press conference, saying: "I thought we were terrific, I really did."
"I think we’ve been better really because you’ve obviously got three young boys there that ideally we wouldn’t be in a position where they’re playing so much football, but that’s where we are so it is what it is.
"Especially in this type of game where we’re up against it and we’ve put ourselves under pressure with a heavy defeat last week and a really poor second 45 minutes.
"We’re playing against another team in and around us, our home form over the last 12 months has been pretty drastic so on every level it was called on today.
"I thought they were brilliant today, I thought they played with no fear, real good energy and belief and yeah I’m absolutely delighted with them."
Robson impressed boss on home debut
The Black Cats dominated in the opening half an hour and capitalised by taking the lead through Asoro, before they survived Hull's late pressure to earn a vital three points.
Academy graduate Ethan Robson impressed Coleman in particular on his home debut, with the Welshman saying of the 21-year-old: "I think he was putting his foot in, he had presence, awareness and yeah I thought he was excellent."
"Catts [Cattermole] is in his ear all the time bossing him and I thought the pair of them were really good today.
"Catts has been here before and seen and done it all before, but young Robbo I'm really really pleased for him because he did ok at Middlesbrough as well you know, coming into a team that had been struggling coming up against a strong Boro team but he did ok and had plenty of belief but today, home debut, yeah really really good for him.
"It doesn’t matter what players you’ve got it’s all about having that harmony you know, you don’t do anything without unity and harmony I promise you and it was there today.
"I think we had no clean sheets for 17 games and now we’ve had five in the last 11 so there’s an improvement there but it’s the consistency, that’s what has to come now so we’ve got to go to Birmingham next game, it doesn’t matter who we’ve got available and we’ve got so many injuries and we can’t get players in and whatever but we’ve got to go there with the same attitude we had today."
Coleman close to making progress in the transfer market
Looking for new additions to the squad is something Coleman has made a high priority with Sunderland so short on numbers due to injuries and recent departures, and Derby striker Chris Martin is the man most recently rumoured to be making a loan move to Wearside.
Although Coleman didn't name any names, he did reveal that he could be close to acquiring a new squad member, saying: "We thought that something was over the line but at the minute it’s not."
"We’ve got a deal with a club and we’re waiting for an answer if you like and a decision from a player, so again I can’t mention players or clubs but that’s where we are so until it’s done I can’t say I’m super confident that this one is going to be done.
"We have to [make additions], you see the vulnerability of the squad and it's tough for young players to go week in week out in this league, its tough.
So yeah we need them, there's no good in saying we’ve won today and we’ve got all the answers and we’re going to be alright now, that’s not it.
"We’ve got to build on what we’ve got, we’ve got to try and help the squad out with a bit of strength in depth simple as that and we’ve got to go all out to do that."