Steven Schumacher rues lack of cutting edge after Plymouth draw with Sunderland

Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2022 by PA

Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher was frustrated to miss out on a victory over Sunderland that would have boosted his side’s hopes of sneaking into Sky Bet League One’s automatic promotion places following a goalless draw at Home Park.

Both the Pilgrims and their visitors were looking to enhance their promotion prospects but are now likely to have to focus on securing their place in the play-offs.

The draw leaves Plymouth four points adrift of the top two, having played two games more than both leaders Wigan and second-placed Rotherham, while Sunderland are two points further back with a game in hand over Argyle.

“It was a good performance,” said Schumacher. “At half-time I said we needed to concentrate because in the second half, the way both teams have been playing over the past few months, one chance was probably going to win it.

“We played some really nice football and created some good opportunities but just messed up on the final pass or the final attempt.

“Unfortunately, we just didn’t manage to get that goal.

“We keep making those opportunities, creating those chances because our defensive shape is quite good.

“I was never too concerned we wouldn’t have a reaction after Friday (2-0 defeat to Wycombe). But it’s always a tough game against Wycombe and we had a tough game at Burton the week before, but here – when we play on our pitch with the crowd behind us – I feel as though we are a good match for anyone.

“We played with a good tempo, especially in the first half, and showed loads of energy and the lads gave us 100 per cent like they always do.

“So I am not too displeased with that. I just wish we had that little bit more quality in the final third then we might have just got that winner.”

Sunderland boss Alex Neil was similarly frustrated as his side’s run of three consecutive wins came to an end but praised his players for keeping Plymouth at bay.

“I think what you can sometimes do is go all out and then what happens is that chess match comes back to bite you,” he said.

“I thought first 15 minutes we started great and we were really in control of the ball and turned it over all the time.

“I thought the way we set up worked really well. We found the spare player but we didn’t really hurt them enough, didn’t get in behind them enough and didn’t link it well enough in certain aspects.

“From that point until half-time I thought they probably moved it better than us. I thought they created a couple of better opportunities than we did.

“So we had to alter a couple of things at half-time, make sure we fixed that. We didn’t want them opening us up and causing us too many issues and I don’t think they had a shot on target in the second half.”