Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner praised his side's resolve after coming back from two goals down to salvage a draw against German side VfB Stuttgart.
It was unquestionably the toughest test of pre-season so far, played in searing Schwaz heat as part of two games taking place during an intensive week-long training camp in Austria.
And as temperatures reached 33° in the first-half, the head coach watched his side trail 2-0 before a deflected Rajiv van La Parra strike pulled one back early in the second-half.
Town then went 3-1 down in the 67th minute before Collin Quaner and Sean Scannell got the goals to level the scoreline.
After the game Wagner declared he was pleased with the work-out and that the strength of character, so crucial to their SkyBet Championship success last season, was still very much evident in the dressing room ahead of the inaugural Premier League campaign.
He said: “I think in the first-half we had a lot of problems and we totally deserved to be 2-0 down, even though we had some opportunities ourselves.
“In the second-half we were much better, particularly in the defence – we didn’t give too many chances away and we able to score.
“It was a good test, everyone is healthy after the game and we have made some more positive steps.
“We are happy everyone had some minutes in the legs – we were in difficult circumstances in the first-half because of the heat.”
“But the main headline for me has to be that we were able to maintain our fighting spirit from last season.
“It was great to see that whether it was 2-1 down or 3-1 down the side wanted to win the game and never gave up.
“It's positive to see this attitude is still in the dressing room, even though it was only a pre-season game.”
