Alex Neil saw ‘the best and worst’ of Sunderland in win over Shrewsbury

Alex Neil admitted the “best and worst” of Sunderland was on display as his Sky Bet League One play-off hopefuls claimed another stoppage-time winner in a 3-2 victory over Shrewsbury.

The hosts looked like cruising to a comprehensive win at the Stadium of Light when goals from Elliot Embleton and Nathan Broadhead established a two-goal advantage in the opening 15 minutes.

However, Sunderland dropped out of the game alarmingly at the start of the second half, with Josh Vela and former Black Cats defender Tom Flanagan striking to pull Shrewsbury level.

Broadhead’s glanced header settled things, with the Everton loanee claiming a stoppage-time winner for the second home game in a row, but Neil admits he was left with mixed feelings about his side’s performance.

The Sunderland head coach said: “I think you could see the best and worst of us today. The first 40 minutes was as good and as clean as we’ve moved the ball all season. We moved it with a real tempo and they couldn’t get near it.

“A sloppiness crept in about five minutes before half-time, too many people taking too many touches, complicating their game trying to show how good they are, and what happens is they (Shrewsbury) get that sniff, that sense they can get something of it.

“I warned the players at half-time, that for 15 minutes they needed to kill the game, stop that momentum by winning second balls and battles. But we got beaten up for 20 minutes, that’s the be all and end all. We didn’t win enough first or second balls, which was really odd because we’ve been strong at that.

“But, what we do have is a real resilience, determination, a fitness level now and a bit of quality to go and win the match.

“In the end I thought we deserved to win the game. Other than a really poor 20 minutes, we were by far the better team.

“I said to the players that you should want people to talk about that first 40 minutes, but we don’t deserve that because of those 20 minutes. But we got there in the end.”

Shrewsbury displayed commendable resilience to get themselves back into the game after falling two goals behind, and their manager, Steve Cotterill, felt Sunderland’s last-gasp winner was cruel.

Cotterill, a former assistant boss of Sunderland, said: “I am so disappointed for the lads, not with them, because they have given so much and we didn’t deserved to get beaten,

“But we have a long journey home now with no points in the skip.

“The winning goal was so cruel because we definitely deserved something from that. It is really tough for us. At 2-2, I thought only one team was going to win it.

“We played well, especially in the second half, when we were really good, but it took 22 minutes before we put our first passing movement together and before we played with any arrogance.

“We created enough to get a third, but it is difficult when you come to a club of this size because 32,000 can drive them on and get behind them. It does give you extra energy having that behind you.

“This is a difficult place to come and get a result – even tougher when you’re 2-0 down. But not only did we quieten the crowd, I think they were on the tip of turning.”