This is what Coventry City boss Mark Robins made of Sunderland and opening-day draw

Robins was disappointed with his side in the first half, feeling that they helped Sunderland build up a head of steam in front of over 40,000 fans.

"I thought we gave the ball away too often, there were too many turnovers in the first half," Robins said.

"When you come to a place like this, riding the crest of a wave after promotion, how noisy it can get, you try to diffuse that by keeping the ball and building some pressure. We didn't do that.

"We gave it away, partly because of them and how they are drilled and partly because of us.

"We didn't create enough and they built some confidence. We knew we needed to stay in the game, our goalkeeper made a good save and they missed a couple of other opportunities.

"Coming into the second half you've got to try and do something different. They managed to break off our lines too often but the changes gave us a bit of impetus in the game, a bit of pace and we managed to create one or two things.

"We looked like we could build a bit of pressure after the goal.

"Any point in the Championship is a good point. Especially in the circumstances, coming here on the opening day of the season after four years away from the Championship.

"I'll take a point and move on."

Like Alex Neil, Robins felt his four second-half substitutions made a big difference to the flow of the game.

"We gave them too much room and time for their goal," he said.

"It's a poor goal from our perspective. They've got good wide players, whoever players in that front four.

"Ross Stewart I think is a real handful, it was his first game at this level but he's got a lot of confidence from last year. They can do that to you, get to the byline and cross it.

"We had to do better in the second half, and the change in shape and personnel ultimately did the trick in terms of opening them up a bit more."