This is why Sunderland's Championship rivals will be fearful this season - Stephen Elliott

A draw was a fair result in the end against Coventry and there was no time to dwell on it with another test to prepare for in Saturday’s game away at Bristol City.

I must admit I was a little bit surprised to see Ellis Simms in the starting XI.

Elliot Embleton, who I felt performed very well against Coventry, must have been a little bit disappointed not to be playing but obviously the manager felt a change up was beneficial.

It didn’t take long to see what the new no9 brings to the team.

In the first few minutes, a ball went down the side of the Bristol City back line in what looked like a favourable ball for the home team’s centre back.

However, Simms had other ideas and raced ahead of the back line and got his team high up the pitch.

Pace is a key component in this division and that is something that Simms has in abundance.

Everybody will point to his two goals and rightly so, they were terrific, but his all round game was outstanding and alongside Ross Stewart Sunderland have a forward line that will put fear into most Championship defences.

The thing that pleased me more than anything on Saturday was the second half performance.

The team seemed to get stronger and more dangerous as the game went on.

This was not the case last week, so it will give head coach Alex Neil huge belief going forward that his team are able to compete physically with teams in this league for the duration of games.

We are two games in and the team has scored four goals.

The fact both Simms and Stewart are now off the mark will give them both huge confidence going into the next games.

It’s still early days yet and we must not get carried away but this team has a really solid base, a team led by Danny Batth and Dan Ballard and a potent attack in the two forwards and a player who even at this level is a class above, Alex Pritchard.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see some movement in the transfer window as I still feel there are a few positions that need to be strengthened. The Championship can be gruelling at times and sometimes a bit of experience will be needed.

If we were to be critical of the current squad then that is an area that can be improved.

There are going to be sticky patches in this Championship campaign, no doubt, but like I said last week if the team can get into the habit of picking points up while they learn about this league then Sunderland could surprise a few people this year.

It’s the old cliche but the Sunderland squad needs to just keep focusing and preparing for each challenge as they come.