Sunderland’s performance ‘unacceptable’ as boss Counts ‘far too many’ missed opportunities

PHIL Parkinson branded Sunderland’s squandered chances, and the penalty they conceded against MK Dons, as ‘unacceptable’.

The Black Cats lost their second league game of the season as they threw away an early lead given to them by Max Power, with Cameron Jerome levelling just minutes later before Power gave away a penalty at the start of the second half, which was converted by Scott Fraser.

Power’s clumsy foul on Fraser for the penalty was bad enough, but the bigger issue was the chances that Sunderland wasted.

Will Grigg missed a good chance in the first period and then an absolute sitter in the second, but a string of other excellent opportunities also came and went.

Asked whether he felt the performance was unacceptable, Parkinson said: “It’s very frustrating, certainly the second goal right at the start of the second half, which cost straight from our kick-off.

“There were three errors leading to that, and the foul that led to the penalty was unacceptable.

“In terms of chances in and around the six-yard box, it is unacceptable that we haven’t taken them – I think that’s fair [to say].

“You don’t get gilt-edged moments like we got today, and like we have been getting, and not take them, and then expect to be at the top. We had four or five moments today in and around the six-yard area when we just needed a bit of composure to get us a goal, and it is unacceptable that we haven’t taken those moments today.”

Grigg’s misses summed up Sunderland’s day, and Parkinson said the striker accepted responsibility.

“Will worked his socks off for the team, first of all,” he said.

“Last week he needed that game [against Mansfield in the FA Cup] because he hadn’t played for a while

– there were a couple of times when he was going to play and he picked up little niggles.

“So physically he looked better this week than last week, but he knows – and he was the first one to hold his hands up in the dressing room – that those moments have got to be made to count.”

Power conceded the penalty after making a mess of a clearance on the edge of the area, and then felling Fraser when he tried to make amends.

Parkinson felt the penalty was soft, but did not make an issue of it.

He said: “To concede a penalty from our kick-off is very, very poor.

“It was a soft decision, there was contact right on the line, and I suppose in the light of what penalties are now given for then we can’t have too many complaints.”

After losing to Mansfield in the cup last weekend and then seeing an admittedly experimental line-up lose in the EFL Trophy at Fleetwood in midweek – albeit in a game that was effectively a dead rubber – there was a lot of criticism of Parkinson and his team on social media following this defeat.

Parkinson said: “We’re all angry. No-one likes losing.

“We made changes for the Mansfield game, some were enforced, some weren’t but they were players we wanted to give a breather.

“We felt that it was the right decision to rest players and try to get a result today but we haven’t been able to do that.

“There was probably no team playing football in the 3pm kick-offs today who had as many clear-cut chances in and around the six-yard box as us.

“Those chances don’t come ten or 12 times in a game, it’s four or five moments, and you have to take them.

“We are creating good quality chances but we have missed far too many gilt-edged opportunities in this game, and in others.”