Sunderland manager Michael Beale delivered his assessment following the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough.
Sunderland manager Michael Beale dismissed any notion that his side was fortunate in their 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, with the equaliser coming from a Tom Glover error.
Boro appeared to be on their way to a Tees-Wear derby victory when Marcus Forss scored in the 61st minute at the Riverside. However, that lead was wiped out in the 83rd minute by a very inexperienced Nazariy Rusyn volley that beat Glover too easily.
While Sunderland’s equaliser was somewhat fortunate, leaving Boro disappointed, the draw felt like a fair depiction, with each side having their own half where they were superior. Boro dominated the second half until Sunderland equalised, reversing a poor first half performance.
Shutting down suggestions of fortune for his team afterward, Beale said: “Yeah, listen, people might point to the goalkeeper letting that one in, but I’ll also point to the guy making an unbelievable goalline clearance in the first half.” To me, that adds up to a goal, so I don’t want anyone to leave thinking we were fortunate because the goaltender could have done better.
“What about the boy who rescues someone on the line? Clearly, our striker should do better in that situation. So we earned our point today. I thought we were the superior team in the first half, and in the last 20 minutes, we were the team with more legs who appeared to have a chance to win.”
The draw left Sunderland three points ahead of Boro, despite having played one more game. With Boro missing out on a massive edge over their rivals in the Championship play-off chase, Beale revealed he expected to be the manager who left the happier of the two.
“If you can’t win, it’s a big point,” the Sunderland manager stated. “We don’t know how big it is yet. However, as the away team, I believe we will be happier to return home. I believe our team demonstrated both good and bad behavior today. Parts of our play were excellent, and the midfield struggle was exciting, but when things get tough, we need to stick with it, and at the start of the second half, we weren’t winning enough duels all over the pitch.
“It’s fair to say they (Middlesbrough) started the second half considerably better than us, and we just discussed it in the locker room. That’s not a nice way to start. Then we concede after a set-play. The ricochet is unfortunate, but it happens to us far too frequently in major games these days, so we must improve.
“Then, all of a sudden, in the final 20 minutes, our tails were up and we were. That is our team’s progress; when we come away, we need to remain there for 90 minutes since it is that tight.”
