Phil Parkinson hails teenager Benji Kimpioka as Sunderland strike back for point

Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson believes teenager Benji Kimpioka will feel “10ft tall” after watching the super substitute save a point with a late equaliser on Saturday.

The 19-year-old came on in the closing stages with the Black Cats trailing 1-0 at home to Coventry and popped up to score his first league goal at the death to rescue a 1-1 Sky Bet League One draw.

After Kimpioka rescued a draw from a drab match – Sunderland’s fifth in a row without a win in all competitions – Parkinson said: “It was a big moment for us.

“I’m delighted for young Benji and delighted for the team as well because I felt on the balance we deserved something from it. The goal just wouldn’t come for us.

“It was a calm finish by Benji. He backs himself, he’s a confident lad. It’s great for him and great for the squad in general.

“Since I’ve been here in the limited time I’ve trained with him, he has started to show more end product in training.

“When I first came in there were a lot of step-overs. If we’re playing seven-a-side we’re asking how many shots can you get away, how many goals can you score.

“It was a clam finish by him and he will feel 10ft tall tonight and he lit up the place.”

Kimpioka’s goal meant Coventry were denied what would have been a fourth-successive win in all competitions, and Sky Blues boss Mark Robins felt deflated at full-time.

“When you look at it that we were a goal up right until deep into the second half, the game should be over,” he said. “We had chances to win it and we haven’t taken them.

“That’s our story at the minute. But to come to Sunderland and play the way we have in the first half was good.

“We started to build momentum and pressure, got our goal from a set play, which has been a long time coming to be fair.

“You can see that there are elements in the game where we look outstanding and other areas where we are just not ready. Just not there yet.

“The conversation we have just had is based around communication and dealing with things, and the difficulty with it is that you have got very inexperienced players playing in a side alongside more experienced players.

“The experienced ones have got to take control of the situation, and we didn’t do that.

“We could have dealt with the situation better and we didn’t. We end up not in the right position from the throw in and then we’re all stretching.

“Then we all dropped deeper and panicked and the ball got kicked against their man and they had the presence of mind for the pass and putting it in the position for them to score was a moment of quality.

“But again, our positioning was poor.”