The victory over Birmingham gives City the chance to top the table with a win over Sunderland tomorrow night, but Thatcher was thinking only of the win.
“It was nice to get the first win on the board, especially after not beating West Brom, which we felt we should have done. It gives us a good platform and a good boost as it looks like we have picked up where we left off last season - and that means being hard to beat.”
The Wales defender was glowing too in his praise of City’s front two, Andrew Cole and Darius Vassell, saying: “The front two’s movement was outstanding.
“They are very experienced Premiership players the pair of them, and as a defender you know you will be in for a tough day against either of them, so I was delighted when we signed them in the summer.
“Andy’s movement, general awareness and level of play is exceptional, and Darius with his pace gives us that option of playing the ball over the top.”
Of Cole’s goal, Thatcher was perfectly placed to pass his judgment on the striker’s first league goal for the Club, adding: “Coley’s goal was a fantastic strike. I was stood behind it and people may not realise just how good a hit it was. It was a top goal from a top player and hopefully he will go on and get a lot more.”
Joey Barton too noted the quality of the strike, saying: “The way he put that ball in the net simply spelled class.”
The impact of the win wasn’t lost on the midfielder who opened his account for the season with the equalliser for City as he said: “Not many teams will go to Birmingham and do what we did, especially in the way we did it, because we were shocking for twenty minutes - we didn’t get off the coach. We were still in the hotel!
“Once we were back on level terms we battled really hard and the goal that Coley hit was phenomenal really.”
