The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
‘If you give your all, the fans will stick with us’
SUNDERLAND could not prevent a sixth straight defeat for the first time in 18 years but Mike Dodds insisted, “as long as we stick with it eventually things will turn for us.”
Well, the law of averages says they will have to win a game at some point and the interim head coach hopes that will come at home to Queens Park Rangers next Saturday.
For now, he is reflecting on a 4-2 defeat at Southampton after watching his players bounce back from 2-0 down to 2-2, only to lose for the fourth time on his watch.
The supporters stuck with the team, though, and Dodds was hugely appreciative of that. “I just said to the lads, ‘the fans stick with you at this football club if they see you giving everything,’” he said.
“I think that was another display where we’ve shown that when we give 100% they will stick with us. At the moment it feels like there’s things going against us with injuries, suspensions, all those types of things.
“We have got to get through it. It’s a moment where we are all getting tested. Players, staff and fans, we’re all getting tested and we’ve got to stick together.”
Sunderland trailed from as early as the ninth minute at St Mary’s when Stuart Armstrong bundled in the opener after the visitors failed to clear.
Southampton were awarded a penalty on 36 minutes when Chris Rigg felled Ryan Manning and Adam Armstrong stepped up to convert. The striker appeared to touch the ball twice when dispatching the spot kick, but the Black Cats’ protests were turned down and Saints led 2-0 at the interval.
But in the second half, the Black Cats showed their character.
Romaine Mundle’s excellent finish reduced the arrears after the hour mark, with a desperately unlucky slip preventing sub Nazariy Rusyn from striking at goal moments later.
A stunning strike from Jobe Bellingham hauled Sunderland level, but the Black Cats were dealt a blow when centre-back Dan Ballard went down injured and was unable to continue before two late goals from Joe Rothwell gave Saints the points.
“What I think they [the players] have shown in particular in the second half is we have still got a group that has a huge amount of pride, a huge amount of willingness to run around and give everything for the football club,” added Dodds. “As long as we stick with that, eventually things will turn for us.
“There’s positives in terms of obviously we are 2-0 down and we got back to 2-2. We have also got to be realistic that we lost 4-2. We’ve also got to be realistic in that I think the goals are avoidable and they are the things that I, as head coach, have got to take a level of responsibility for.
“Players have to take a level of responsibility for the goals we’ve conceded.”
He added: “There are positives in terms of the attitude and application. But ultimately we’ve got to win games of football and it’s another defeat. It’s another opportunity we’ve missed and we know we’ve got seven days until the next game and we’ve got to ensure the trend is bucked next weekend.” On Ballard’s injury, Dodds explained: “Dan tried his hardest to carry on but unfortunately he couldn’t. I don’t want to add any fuel to the fire at the moment. He’s strapped up and we will see where we are come Monday. It’s not ideal. We’ve got a few situations like that at the moment. And some suspensions. But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, I’m not feeling sorry for myself. We’ve got to get on with it. We’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again next weekend to make sure we get back to winning ways.”
Sunderland slipped to 12th place, 11 points off the play-offs, while only nine points away from the Championship drop zone.
I just said to the lads, ‘the fans stick with you at this football club if they see you giving everything’ Mike Dodds