Neil: A shame to see Black Cats’ plight

Preston North End boss Alex Neil admits it is a “shame” to see Sunderland in the position they are.

Two goals in 13 secondhalf minutes on Saturday put the Lilywhites in command against Sunderland, bottom and heading for League One.

Neil was delighted with his own side’s performance in the 2-0 away victory, as Sunderland were condemned to an 11th home Championship loss.

Neil said: “It’s hard for me to comment on Sunderland. I don’t know the ins and outs of what goes on behind closed doors – it’s a big stadium and a big club and it’s a shame the position they’re in right now.

“Everyone wants the big clubs to show what they can do and Chris [Coleman] is working really hard to change things round here.

“I’d seen Chris Coleman’s comments before the game about us being a long ball team and I found that quite amusing, to be honest.”

Neil has challenged his players to go and achieve something after putting themselves in with a fantastic chance of a top-six spot, with Preston within two points of sixth-placed Middlesbrough.

Neil added: “We’re in a fantastic position and in good form.

“We played better last week against Fulham and lost and we’ve moved on considerably since the start of the season. The aim now is to try to achieve something. I’m very pleased, our main aim was to come and try to win the game.

“The only frustration is that it could, and should, have been a bigger winning margin. Both sets of players deserve credit because the conditions were so testing.

“We played very well.”