Whilst Sunderland couldn’t take victory over Queens Park Rangers this weekend, manager Simon Grayson was happy to take the positives from the game.
Hosting the side at the Stadium of Light for the tie against Ian Holloway’s side, Idrissa Sylla gave them the advantage in the first half but Sunderland fought back to level matters up with Aiden McGeady finding the net just after the hour mark.
For Grayson, as he spoke to the Official Site as he met with the media following the game, the way Sunderland dug in to earn a point was positive enough for him.
‘We wanted to win the game and we did have some good chances to do that. After going down a goal following their set-piece we didn`t take it to heart; we dealt with it, we got on the ball better and we created some urgency about us. You could tell the players were doing whatever was required to get a result.’
Grayson went on to add.
‘Of course we`re disappointed because we wanted to win and get the three points, but we`re taking small steps and hopefully next time we turn out we get maximum points. If Aiden McGeady had scored with that early chance it would have really settled us. It was a great ball from Duncan to set that up. It would have given us that first goal, which is so important at home. There were a lot of positives in the second half; the players stepped up and they wanted to be on the ball.’
He was also pleased with the chances we fashioned for ourselves on the day, but obviously we need to become far more clinical in future and he praised the impact of the substitutes.
‘We had some decent opportunities, we just didn`t get the breaks. We certainly looked a threat today and we passed the ball with purpose. The lads who came off the bench had an impact on the game too, which is what you want to see.’
In terms of injury news, he went on to explain.
‘Tyias Browning picked up an injury on Tuesday in training and Marc Wilson is still injured. Lamine Kone was down to play but fell ill overnight. You finally get your full complement of strikers available and then you lose players at the other end, but Billy Jones came in and stuck to the task he was asked to do.’
Adding.
‘Lewis has been out for 4 or 5 weeks now and it`s great to have him back and there`s another 75 minutes in the tank for Duncan which is great for everybody. We`ve shown some good character today, we`ve not buried our head in the sand and let`s hope we can build on this result and the last one when we go to Brentford next week.’
