Coleman rues Black Cats’ missed opportunity

Chris Coleman admits Sunderland’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham City was a “missed opportunity”.

The Black Cats ended their home hoodoo with the 1-0 win over Fulham on December 16, but they were unable to make it back-toback wins on Saturday and had to settle for a point, which saw them slip back into the Championship relegation zone.

Sam Gallagher put the Blues in front after just 16 minutes, a ball over the top not dealt with and Gallagher finished the rebound after his first attempt was blocked by Marc Wilson.

Sunderland didn’t fold and quickly regrouped, top scorer Lewis Grabban scoring his 12th of the season from close range after a Donald Love cross.

Gallagher saw red in the second half, dismissed after 67 minutes, but Sunderland were unable to capitalise on having the man advantage, a frustrating finish to the game.

Coleman said: “I was disappointed, it was an opportunity missed.

“Overall performance, we were nervous and lacked confidence for some reason. We went 1-0 down, but showed good conviction and didn’t fold and got back in the game.

“We didn’t go under. Showed courage. I expected us to go and win it. (At) Key moments in the game, we lacked conviction and confidence offensively.

“I’m not just talking about the strikers, the whole team, when we got into good areas.

“A lot of these games, this game was always going to be different to last. We are in a relegation dogfight at the moment, we were fourth bottom they were bottom.

“We knew it would be a dogfight before we kicked the ball.

“Of all the performances since I have been here, this was the one when we looked nervous.

“I expected more from us in possession. I don’t know why we were tentative. You have to block everything out and just focus on yourself.

“I was a bit disappointed from that perspective, dropping two points at home so we missed an opportunity.

“It could have been worse, when we went 1-0 down it could have been ‘here we go again’”.