Sunderland and Doncaster played out a hard-fought draw on Friday night and although the Black Cats failed to capitalise on an opportunity to go as high as fourth in the table, Phil Parkinson did make room for praise in his assessment of the match.
What did he say?
The Wearsiders are currently enjoying an eight-match unbeaten run but they failed to replicate home performances against Lincoln and Wycombe where they blew away the opposition early on.
Instead, they had to work hard against Rovers just to create opportunities, with perhaps their best chance of the match coming in injury time, Duncan Watmore seeing his effort saved by Seny Dieng.
Despite their limitations going forward, the home side made up for it defensively, making it three goals conceded in the past seven matches, with the centre-back trio of Jordan Willis, Alim Ozturk and Joel Lynch proving their worth once again.
Speaking post-match, as reported by the Chronicle, Parkinson said:
“When you are not at your best, like in the first half, you have to make sure you defend properly and we did that as a team tonight and restricted them to very little.
“The concentration levels from our defenders were great and we have got another clean sheet – obviously we would rather have taken all three points but it’s eight games unbeaten and we go into another big week on the road where we face Tranmere and then Portsmouth.”
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Solid foundation
During the early part of Parkinson’s reign, Sunderland had struggled to keep clean sheets, and it is little surprise that the Black Cats’ boss had just two wins from 14 games at one point.
The switch to 5-2-3 has worked wonders, with the call-up of Ozturk particularly proving to be an inspired move, as he has organised things from a central position and made his side difficult to break down. Since the New Year, the centre half has failed to dip below an average match rating of 6.7, via WhoScored – something that displays his great consistency.
Bailey Wright was signed a few days ago and although he has a wealth of experience, it may take him some time to win a place in the side, and that highlights the strength Sunderland have.
Now though, Parkinson should be looking at ways to make his side a little more expansive and creative. He has fixed one issue but if Sunderland are to maintain their run of form they will need more firepower, as they only won last week against MK Dons due to a wonder goal.
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Teams are likely going to arrive at the Stadium of Light with a defensive mindset, and therefore the likes of Chris Maguire and Lynden Gooch will have to show great consistency to work openings and score chances when they arise, though hopefully, the addition of Kyle Lafferty will also help.
In transfer news, Parkinson is still hoping for one key development to take place over the next week.