Inside the exciting, draining and slightly sobering afternoon Championship football returned to Sunderland

For the first time, 40,000 fans and their 11 players had a moment to breathe.

It had been exhilarating and utterly draining.

A bleary-eyed start to the season had in the moments before kick off given way to something genuinely spectacular.

A display that paid homage to a proud past and a noise that reflected hopes of a promising future.

In front of the Sky cameras it was a clear message: Sunderland are back.

And then, you realised with glee, football was back.

Coventry City came, as Alex Neil quite rightly pointed out, confident in the belief that they had better players and a better team. They had come to win and so they played.

There was no sitting in a low block, no taking time out of the game at every opportunity. When the ball went from back to front it was with a purpose and into dangerous areas. When the ball turned over the first thought was not to slow it down but to break swiftly and in numbers.

The quality was up and so was the jeopardy.

Sunderland held their own and then some. Neil had admitted that he had little sense of how his team would fare at the level, he was optimistic but realistic about the size of the step and the inexperience in his ranks.

The first signs were good. Alex Pritchard unsurprisingly led the way but Dan Neil, Dennis Cirkin, Elliot Embleton, all settled quickly.

Mark Robins had been frustrated that his side did not do enough to take the sting out of the occasion, that they didn’t hold onto the ball and give a feverish crowd little to get stuck into. You also felt that maybe the speed with which Sunderland moved the ball took them a little by surprise. Neil’s decision to match up Coventry’s back three was a good one and when Clarke leapt at the back post to give his side an entirely deserved lead, there felt like no limits.

What would follow was perhaps not quite reality biting but rather a slightly sobering reflection of where Sunderland actually are.

The intensity of that opening period was beginning to tell even as half time approached. Neil was pleased with his player’s work-rate but felt that on the ball they had stopped doing enough, the upshot fo which was to invite pressure from the opposition. There were tired legs and tired minds.

Sunderland came through that period and even after the break, they continued to create chances to extend their lead. Indeed if there was one overwhelming positive from the game it was that the Black Cats never looked blunt, and regularly found ways to stretch the Coventry defence.

Clarke nearly doubled his tally in the first half, Embleton missed a good chance shortly after the restart. On a number of occasions only a slightly mishit pass saved the visitors from being opened up.

Coventry, though, were quite clearly moving into the ascendancy. True enough Patterson had not been greatly tested, but his team-mates in front of him were finding it harder and harder to retain possession. Whereas the first half hour had been intense but purposeful, now it was all a bit flustered.

It was an equaliser of superb individual quality from Viktor Gyokeres, and that in itself served as a warning for the season ahead. These are players who could in the not too distant future command eight-figure fees from Premier League clubs. Don’t take advantage of your better spells in the game, and you will be punished. It was also, Coventry will have felt, a fair reflection of their dominance.

Key, in the final reckoning, was Robins’ ability to turn the tide of the game with his bench. He switched shape to a 4-3-3, and injected both pace and Championship experience to his right flank. Neil went like-for-like, but it was asking a lot of the excellent Clarke to continue shuttling up and down the flank, to support his defender and also retain a threat.

Neil had given serious consideration to bringing on Ellis Simms, to give his side the option of stretching the game and getting up the pitch. Simms had only been in the building a couple of days, however, and at that stage the midfield battle was being lost. Taking another player out of that area was a risk he couldn’t take.

This won’t be a one-off, either. Teams with bigger budgets and even deeper squads than Sunderland will continuously be able to take charge of the closing stages of games unless Neil gets more depth. Pointedly, the head coach said afterwards that he still needs four or five new signings. Again he warned of a difficult season ahead.

Not so long ago a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season meant frustration and fatigue.

Here it represented a solid start, a foothold that could have been something more but very definitely could have been something less.

It was sobering in spells, and uplifting in others. And that, all things considered, was just about OK. A crucial few weeks lie ahead in the window but for now, a chance to step back and take a breath.

This is going to be hard work. It might still be fun.