‘We treated this like a cup final’: Sunderland’s Bailey Wright highlights importance of Birmingham win

The Black Cats won’t have another fixture for three weeks following a 2-1 win at St Andrew’s, after goals from Ellis Simms and Amad Diallo.

Birmingham substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz pulled a goal back 12 minutes from time, yet the Black Cats held on to claim a big three points.

“We knew what we were going to be up against tonight,” Wright told Sky Sports after the match. “They’re a big physical side, very direct, and we had to dig deep, and we did.

“We showed a lot of character in a game that wasn’t too pretty, we showed a different side to our game, a different side and characteristics than we normally are.”

Over 2,200 Sunderland fans made the trip to St Andrew’s for the Friday night fixture.

“They’re incredible,” added Wright when asked about the supporters. “They follow us every game, regardless of the result or performance they back us.

“They’ll be happy now. There’s no football for a good few weeks. We treated this like a cup final, and it’s so much better going into the break with a win.”

Everton loanee Simms scored his first goal for over a month after being sidelined with a toe injury and missing seven matches.

The striker has now made consecutive starts against Cardiff and Birmingham in the Championship, as he continues to build up his fitness.

“Coming here, we knew it was going to be tough,” Simms added. “We had to dig in at the end. The fans were great and got behind us, they were massive today.

“It’s a massive win. A few of the results in the past few games, we’ve been a bit unlucky. We knew we needed the points. We’ll rest and recover in the break and be right back at it when we’re back.”

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Sunderland will now have a week to recharge their batteries before a week-long training camp in Dubai.

The Black Cats will return to action when they host Millwall at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, December 3.