Steven Schumacher hailed a big day for the club as he led Wanderers to an opening-day win in the Championship.
Schumacher’s side marked the Whites’ first game back at Championship level for seven years with a thrilling 2-1 win over Preston North End at a pumped-up Toughsheet Community Stadium.
The Whites thrilled a capacity crowd with some superb football to take a 2-0 lead through Sam Dalby and the un-stoppable Thierry Gale.
And despite a nervy finish they had enough to get over the line to make it a perfect start to the EFL season.
“I won't stop smiling all afternoon and all evening, because it's a big day for us today,” said a delighted Schumacher. “First game back in the Championship for seven years in a derby game, full house, sold out, it was important that we tried to take that momentum from last season into this one and try and play a positive style of football, which I felt we did, but most importantly, just get that first three points on the board.
“I think that is a huge milestone, when you are a newly-promoted team to get your first three points on the board in the Championship and we've managed to do it, so we are delighted.”
Wanderers started with three of their new recruits in their side and blooded four more late in, but it was two stalwarts of last season’s side who grabbed the goals through Dalby and Gale.
John McAtee and Ethan Erhahon also stepped in from the shadows to produce top performances and the Whites could have been out of sight before Preston pulled one back late on through Jusef Erabi and then missed an injury-time chance to nick an unlikely point.
“I thought we were the better team in the first half,” Schumacher told Wanderers TV. “We said we needed to try and keep that as much as possible and try not to let Preston gain too much momentum if we could, and I thought for probably 20 minutes of the second half we managed to do that.
“I thought we were a team who looked like they were going to score again and you could just see as well there's stuff for us to learn from. The Championship is punishing if you don't take your chances.
“Sam missed a big one at 2-0 and they’ve gone down the other end and scored a goal because they've got seasoned Championship players and all of a sudden we’re then having to hang on.
“At the very end we survived a chance that (Liam) Lindsay should probably score, so it could have been a game from being in complete control of that you only take a point from, which would have been a huge blow.
“Every point in the Championship is going to be precious, so to get three on opening day in front of a sold-out stadium at home, and our first game back at this level for so long, it's so good.”
Watch the full post-match interview with the boss on Wanderers TV