Phil Parkinson left frustrated by wasteful Sunderland

Posted Sunday, October 04, 2020 by PA

Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson cut a frustrated figure at The Valley after seeing his side held to a goalless draw by Charlton.

The result leaves Sunderland unbeaten in League One and they were forced to hold on following the 73rd-minute sending-off of Tom Flanagan for tripping Conor Washington.

Parkinson was more concerned with his side’s profligacy in front of goal with striker Danny Graham missing several first-half chances.

Parkinson said: “It was a decent performance, but I’m frustrated we haven’t taken those chances. We had some gilt-edged ones and even with 10 men we had the best chances.

“Some of our football and the way we switched the play was great. It’s exactly how we need to play with this system. We looked a lot more dynamic than last week, particularly with the ball

“Eight points from four games is a good platform to build on but we should be talking about a victory today.

“Yes, Danny missed that chance, but that’s the life of a striker. You need the bravery to go again and to keep getting in there. I’m confident we’ve got the strikers who are that brave.

“I’m very pleased with the resilience we showed with 10 men especially because Charlton had some good players to come on from the bench like Marcus Maddison.

“And I’m pleased with the work ethic and mentality, but equally we’ve got to be clinical when we get those chances.”

Charlton counterpart Lee Bowyer shared Parkinson’s mixed reaction to the result.

With the club’s takeover only just resolved, Bowyer is still piecing together his squad and admitted there is still more to be achieved.

Bowyer said: “We’ve got to get bodies in, but we’re all aware of that and we’re all working hard behind the scenes.

“Ben Watson and Marcus Maddison are still rusty of course. Watson will be much better for those 90 minutes but how he played the whole 90 minutes after playing on Tuesday is beyond me.

“It’s going to take Maddison time. We aren’t going to get him up to speed in two weeks because he hasn’t had a pre-season so he’s a long way behind anyone else fitness-wise – he will get better.

“I’m looking forward to getting everyone up to speed fitness-wise and then we’ll start challenging for real.”

Bowyer admitted he thanked goalkeeper Ben Amos after the final whistle for a flying first-half save which kept out a Flanagan header, but professed himself dissatisfied with his side’s creativity.

Bowyer added: “Ben was the reason we got that point today. I think Sunderland will be up there at the end of the season. They have good experience, good legs and they are better than when we played them two seasons ago.

“But our performance was not good enough because that’s not what I’m used to seeing. We looked nervous in possession and we gave the ball away far too much.”