Ross happy, but wanted more goals in first half

Sunderland made it three straight wins with victory over Plymouth Argyle and Jack Ross admits in the first half they produced some of their best football this season.

His only criticism was that the 1-0 lead, thanks to Lee Cattermole’s fifth of the campaign, should have been far greater.

Skipper George Honeyman added a second in the closing stages of the game.

Ross said: “We played well, I have been pleased with us for five or six games, our performance level has been good.

“First half we were very good, the only frustration was that we weren’t further ahead at halftime.

“The other pleasing thing was we were resilient second half, we looked compact and comfortable.

“We always believe we will create opportunities. It was a satisfying afternoon for us.”

Asked whether it was some of the best football produced this season during a dominating first half spell, Ross said: “Possibly. There have been lots of other occasions.

“You don’t get to where we are without being good in games, the record over the season, statistically has been terrific.

“There have been patches we have played like that. Sustained pressure like that, we were good. A lot of the things, particularly first half, were what we work on.

“As a manager you don’t often get those days when it all comes together as complete as that, aside from maybe scoring more goals.

“I felt as if we were good, I still thought they carried a threat because they have been on a terrific run, they have good players and they have a striker that is in really good form.

“When you are only a goal ahead and they have players like [Ruben] Lameiras and [Graham] Carey, especially Graham because I know him well, that can produce anything from 40-yards out, then you just never know. But in terms of the flow of the game, I felt a lot more comfortable in recent times.

“I felt like we had control of the game both in and out of possession, which is important for us.”