Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink felt Sunderland clash should have been called off
Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2022 by PA
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink felt Burton’s match with Sunderland should have been abandoned after a serious medical emergency delayed play for almost an hour at the Stadium of Light.
The game was halted in the third minute when officials were made aware of an issue in the stands, with a supporter treated for 40 minutes by the emergency services before being taken to hospital.
Burton took the lead through Cameron Borthwick-Jackson midway through the second half but Ross Stewart’s header with less than a minute of stoppage time to play earned a 1-1 draw.
Hasselbaink said: “I hope that (the supporter) recovers really well. Our thoughts are with him and his family.
“At that moment, I’d have rather we postponed the game and come back another day than wait this long.
“The person is more important than the game. I know there are regulations but the person, their fan, is the most important thing.
“Once again we would like to send our love and support to them.”
Sunderland head coach Alex Neil said: “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the lad and his family.
“There’s nothing worse than when something happens to one of your own, and you feel helpless.
“I don’t know what the outcome of it is but our thoughts are with him and his family.”
Hasselbaink said he was frustrated with the end result but had no complaints with his team’s performance.
He said: “I always look at performance and the performance was really good, we should have won easily.
“If you think you’re going to come here in League One with our team and dominate possession, it’s not going to happen. They’re way too good for that, but we did really well with the ball.
“We looked really dangerous when we won the ball in midfield and we had some good, clear-cut chances.
“You need to finish it off with the second (goal) and we had some tired legs at the end.
“It’s a good cross, and you normally defend that better. But I can’t fault my players, the effort, the organisation.”
Neil, who is still searching for his first win as head coach, said: “I’m learning about the group every day.
“We changed the shape but we still got countered on, and that was extremely frustrating.
“Some of our decision-making and quality tonight really let us down.
“The balance in the first 30 minutes was good, and one moment changes the momentum of the game when they had a counter-attack.
“At the moment, I don’t know if it’s the youthfulness of the group, we just don’t react well.”
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