Manager Simon Grayson has said he was pleased with the attitude that the Sunderland players showed in our Championship opener against Derby County.
Hosting Derby at the Stadium of Light on Friday evening to kick off the 2017/18 campaign, we battled to a one all draw on the day with a Lewis Grabban penalty in the first half bringing us back to level terms having gone behind early on.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game press conference, whilst Grayson was after further improvement, he knew he couldn’t criticise the effort or attitude of the players as they battled from behind to take a point.
‘I`m really pleased because we were up against tough opposition. The basics we asked the players to do tonight were there for everybody to see. We had to work, chase and stop the opposition from playing and when we got the opportunities we played quite well. We passed it round quite well and their keeper made some exceptional saves but the biggest thing for me was when we conceded the first goal after such a strong start from us we didn`t crumble.’
For Grayson, seeing the team roll their sleeves up and not crumble was a huge positive for him.
‘We didn`t feel sorry for ourselves and we really dug deep and got back on the front foot. You are going to suffer goals and disappointment and we made sure before we went out that any disappointment on the pitch didn`t affect us. That`s what we did so I`m really pleased with the attitude and commitment of the players.’
He also appreciated that seeing the team respond like that may have been refreshing for the fans.
‘It was probably refreshing for the supporters to see today. We all go away quite happy, disappointed we didn`t win the game because if any team deserved to win it today it was us.’
