Squandering points a recurring Cats issue
ONLY WINS WILL DO AT THIS STAGE
A POINT, away from home, against a Millwall side unbeaten in eight league games.
In any other circumstances, this would have been a reasonable result. Nothing to shout about, but decent enough.
But for a team in Sunderland’s situation – bottom of the Championship, attempting to narrow what was a five-point gap between themselves and safety, and fast running out of games in which to do so – it was not good enough.
Particularly after the Black Cats had done the hard part and gone in front at The Den through Bryan Oviedo’s stunning strike just before the half-hour mark.
But Sunderland have only scored first in 11 of their 35 games this season – the secondworst record in the division – and while they have yet to lose after doing so, on six occasions they have ended up drawing and no Championship team has been pegged back more times.
So despite Oviedo putting them in the driving seat and going in at half-time on top, in the second half they dropped deeper and deeper and invited Millwall pressure them.
They reached the hour still in front, and then the midway point in the second half, but the pressure had been building.
When Shaun Hutchinson scrambled the ball over the line from a corner 20 minutes from time, it came as no surprise.
With Sunderland offering no threat to the Lions in the second half, it was simply a case of whether the Black Cats could hang on for a point, which they did.
Chris Coleman will at least be able to cite this as the third successive game in which Sunderland’s performance levels have improved incrementally.
It also trimmed the gap between themselves and Barnsley, sitting just above the drop zone, to four points although the Tykes have a game in hand.
And that despite his decision to make half-a-dozen changes – only a couple of which were forced upon him – the most notable of which saw goalkeeper Jason Steele make his first league start since October.
Steele’s displays have been justifiably criticised this season but on his return he was one of Sunderland’s stand-out players, making a couple of excellent saves to keep Millwall at bay and also showing sound handling when dealing with the Lions’ many crosses.
But ultimately the question is whether Sunderland’s improvement as a team continues in the coming games, and whether it will be reflected in their results.
As Coleman has pointed out, with 11 games still to play, and 33 points available, the mathematics are not yet a problem.
But the context is that Sunderland have only won five games all season.
And that being the case, it is easy to see why the fans are still yet to be convinced.