Grigg must ‘believe in himself’

WILL Grigg has to find strength from within as his struggles at Sunderland continued with a penalty shoot-out miss at Oxford United.

That’s the view of Black Cats boss Phil Parkinson, who saw his side crash out of the Carabao Cup at the fourth round stage on penalties after drawing 1-1 at the Kassam Stadium.

Grigg has found goals hard to come by since his January move to Wearside and has looked desperately short of confidence, with his strike in the last week’s 5-0 win over Tranmere marking the end of a six-month league drought.

Grigg came off the bench against the Us but was unable to come up with a goal in his 35 minutes on the pitch, and then he blazed his spot-kick over the bar in the shootout, before Marc McNulty saw his crucial spot-kick saved.

Parkinson still retains faith that Grigg will come good, but admitted: “It’s got to come from within as well.

“The supporters have been right behind him since I have been here, he’s got to believe, and he has to play with a bit more conviction.

“We know he is a terrific player and he has all the attributes, and he will start showing it.”

Of the former Wigan man’s penalty miss, he added: “The worst-case scenario should be that you make the keeper work.

“He’s not the first one to miss a penalty, but we are frustrated that he didn’t make the keeper work at the very least.”

Sunderland created more than enough chances to win the game inside 90 minutes, hitting the woodwork through McNulty in the first half and a deflected George Dobson cross in the second.

Rob Hall had given Oxford the lead midway through the first period but McNulty levelled 12 minutes from the end.

And Parkinson was furious with referee Steve Martin after he rejected two strong penalty appeals, showing no interest in the first half when Joel Lynch was bundled over by goalkeeper Simon Eastwood, and then waving away the Black Cats’ protests in the final few minutes when Luke O’Nien was clearly fouled by Sam Long.

Parkinson said: “I’m moaning at the officials – and rightly so – but the game should have been done and dusted just with the other opportunities we had.”