A delighted City boss Nigel Pearson praised his team's bravery and character after their first away win of the season at Middlesbrough last night.

The contest was evenly balanced, City spent some periods under severe pressure with goalkeeper Chris Weale making a string of brilliant saves but their resilience was rewarded by Lloyd Dyer's late winner for a 1-0 win.

Pearson said: "We have played better and not won and I suppose at times you have to ride your luck but I thought we were brave tonight. It wasn't a particularly good game but it was important that we responded to last Saturday's defeat, so I am pleased with that.

"It was a typical Championship game. There were some strange results thrown up again on the night and we know it is very competitive and it is nice to get an away win."

It was a really tough task for City against a side relegated from the Premiership and among the favourites to go back up again and Pearson said: "It is a big step up, still difficult to say how the season is going to pan out but we definitely have to be at our best every time to give ourselves the chance of winning games and that takes its toll on players, as much physically and mentally, but I know we have got the right characters in the dressing room to cope with that."

"So far it has been a solid start, we are probably three or four points short of where we would like to be or what we could have been but that is how it is."

One sour note on the night was Pearson's revelation that Bulgarian international Aleksandar Tunchev  faces an operation on the same knee he suffered cruciate ligament damage on last season and will have it done "very soon."

Cant make the game at the weekend? You can listen to live match commentary as we take on the Sky Blues at the Richo Arena only on Foxes Player. Not only can you listen to the game, for less than 10p a day, you can access match highlights, exclusive video content and it's compatible with PC/MAC operating systems.