Manager Simon Grayson has reflected on Sunderland’s unbeaten start to Championship life following relegation from the Premier League and that continued with another point in midweek as we met with Sheffield Wednesday.
An early George Honeyman goal gave us the lead but Wednesday hit back with 20 minutes to play in the game and largely Grayson was pleased with our efforts on the night.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media post game, Grayson praised the commitment of the side to dig in when it mattered.
‘It was a good performance again to come here and not get beat. When you look at the game we started well, had some good chances and were really the better team in the first half. If we had got the second goal then we would`ve silenced the crowd.’
Grayson went on to say.
‘They weren`t running out of ideas but they hadn`t opened us up or anything like that. It was a wonder goal that gave them the impetus and got the crowd behind them. We withstood a lot of pressure and that is a good mentality to have. After their goal there were some real questions asked of the team, whether we were going to concede a second and lose the game, but we didn`t. We withstood a lot of pressure.’
That was obviously a positive for Grayson as he looks to make us a much tighter unit at the back this year, and he always knew it would be a tough game.
‘This place (Hillsborough) can get going when it is like that but ultimately we are pleased with the first half. If we had scored the second goal then we would`ve won the game. Up until the wonder goal we looked very comfortable with what we were doing.’
Having scored on the evening, Honeyman was also in front of the press following the game and he was already turning his attentions to Leeds United this weekend.
‘It was a good feeling and I was just happy to see it hit the back of the net to be honest. It was one of those where I had a lot of time and it was more of a relief when it hit the back of the net. We probably should`ve taken more of our chances in the first period and really killed the game off. We knew they were going to come out strong in the second half and I think we we’ve had a tough week and would’ve taken a point before the start of the game.’
Honeyman went on to say.
‘We have collected five points from our first three games and I think we are all quite happy with that. They had a few chances in the second half but they have only scored with a long-range effort. Sometimes you can`t do anything about that and they just go in but we are happy with our unbeaten start and long may it continue. We are going into every game looking to win. We want to get the three points and if we can get the win on Saturday we will look back and consider it to be a really good start to the season from the schedule we`ve had and the fixtures.’
