No getting away from fact we were poor – Ross

JACK Ross refused to use the dramatic ending to Sunderland’s draw at Wycombe Wanderers to divert attention from his side’s poor performance.

Duncan Watmore came off the bench to score an injurytime equaliser after Alex Samuel had put the home side in front in the first half.

But the game ended in acrimony with a brawl between the two dugouts, and with three red cards shown by referee Lee Swabey – Black Cats skipper George Honeyman and Wycombe’s Nathan Tyson, both of whom had already been substituted, dismissed following the flashpoint on the sidelines, and then Wanderers’ Marcus Bean picking up a second yellow card.

Ross gave an honest appraisal, however, saying: “I try to remain clear-headed through it all but we didn’t play well.

“I don’t want anything to take away from the fact we weren’t good.

“There was nothing sneaky that we didn’t expect in terms of the way the game was played, we just didn’t deal with it as well as we would have liked.

“Individually a lot of us were below-par, and collectively we were too.

“We did as much as we could with shape changes and personnel changes, and I thought we had a bit more purpose about us in the second half but it still wasn’t a good day for us so for us to get something out of the game was testament to our character.

“They’ve shown that time after time and it’s not an easy thing to do.

“They could easily have lost heart at the way the game was going but instead they came back to get a point.”

Ross was delighted to see Watmore score his first league goal since returning from a long-term knee injury which ruled him out for the best part of two years.

But Watmore was unable to complete the game thanks to the challenge that saw Bean shown a second yellow.

Ross said: “I was really pleased for him because everybody know what he has been through over the last couple of years.

“He broke through one barrier with his goal in the Checkatrade and now he has scored in a league match – and to score such an important goal was another milestone for him.

“I wasn’t too enamoured with the tackle on him. I thought it was a straight red actually, rather than a second yellow.”