Town boss Paul Lambert was delighted with his side’s display despite falling to a 3-2 defeat to Bundesliga new boys Paderborn in their opening friendly.
Jordan Roberts and Kayden Jackson, from the penalty spot, netted the Blues’ goals after the home side had gone into a three-goal lead.
"I’m really pleased with the way we played,” he said. "We’re up against a Bundesliga team, not somebody in the third tier of German football. They’re up there on merit.
"Performance-wise, football-wise, I’m really pleased. I really am.”
Paderborn’s third goal looked to have been offside, while he felt his team were a little naïve with the first, which followed a bright start for his team, and then made a mistake for the second.
"That’s what I thought [about the third goal], but they tell me it wasn’t. I’ll have to see it again,” he said.
"The first goal is a great strike, but we were making a good attack and were a bit naïve. It starts from their goalkeeper.
"That goes with having young players. The naivety will set in at certain times. That only comes from experience.
"Second goal, Woolf tries to go inside. I thought he had a really good game, but there was a little error there.
"The third goal might have been offside. But performance-wise, honestly, I’m really, really pleased. Some of the football was excellent.
The Blues started in a 4-2-3-1 system before Lambert changed it at half-time but he says nothing ought to be read into the formations he employed.
"I changed it at half-time to 4-3-3,” he added. "I might play another system come next weekend. It’s not about systems, it’s about getting guys fit and up to speed. We still have a couple coming back.
Overall, he says pre-season is going well: "It’s hard, it always is. We travelled a long way for the game. Nearly three hours is a long way to come fo a friendly game.
"It was a good game for us though because Paderborn are a really good team.
He added: "Do you know what, there wasn’t one player I was disappointed with. We’re a really good football side.
Lambert was pleased to see Emyr Huws play his first senior 45 minutes since December 2017.
"It’s his first game in a long, long time. I’m really happy if he comes through that.
"He’s not missed a day of training since we’ve come back. That’s another plus for us.”
James Norwood, Alan Judge, Jon Nolan and Gwion Edwards all missed out but none are too far away from involvement.
"We can’t take a chance on Judgey’s wrist. Nolo is calf and he’s not too far away. Gwion is getting better with his groin area.
"James we gave extra time off because of his involvement in the play-offs with Tranmere, though he’s raring to go. It’s just about easing him in. To play a game of this magnitude today was probably just a bit too much.”
Joining those four in the stands was Freddie Sears, still a few months off a return from his ACL injury, with the former Colchester and West Ham man having made the trip to Germany despite his lack of fitness.
"We have to have everybody. We’re not good enough to have more than one player and we have to have everyone,” Lambert continued.
"Freddie’s in that category and it’s important to bring the lads who injured themselves last season and be a part of everything.”