Injury-hit Cats turn to kittens
By NICK McFARLANE at the Stadium of Light
LEE JOHNSON would not criticise his injury-hit Sunderland team after watching Matty Taylor’s late effort earn Oxford a draw on Wearside.
The Black Cats led through on-loan Leon Dajaku’s goal, but were pegged back by Taylor’s effort nine minutes before half-time.
Sunderland head coach Johnson, without eight senior players, said: “There was effort in both halves.
“We played better second half.
“The commitment and effort was there in both.
“There were seven academy graduates in and around the squad, which highlights the injury scenario, but you have to credit these boys for how hard they have worked against a very good Oxford side.
“Expectation is huge here, rightly so, but there are sides who are pretty close in this division too. It is a close league.
“You have to be consistent, creative and you have to do everything you can to score twos and threes.
“I think we did enough to score the twos and threes, but for whatever reason it didn’t happen.”
Oxford boss Karl Robinson said: “I was quite bored second half, it was one-dimensional in all aspects of our game.
“First half, there was only one team in it, we were very good.
“Credit to Lee, they changed shape second half, we played into that press they had and I said it was unacceptable to the players at the end.
“But we have been here in the past, we know what it is like, so we would have come out with a point beforehand. “Sunderland had a terrible injury list.
“Let’s not kid anyone, they had big players unavailable.
“It was two teams not at their best with players not at peak performance.
“However, we will use Covid as an excuse for the second-half performance.”