Cats draw blank against Rovers
Perhaps this past week has offered a more balanced assessment of where this Sunderland side finds itself.
Without a doubt, they are a different proposition to the team that so laboured throughthemidwinterperiod, short not just on confidence but seemingly resilience, too.
The last two games have also offered something of a reality check, if only a minor one, from those heady afternoons when Lincoln City and WycombeWandererswereswept awayinablurofenergetic,incisive football.
This was the second game in which they had looked a little flat and, significantly, less precise, in an underwhelming first-half display.
Against MK Dons, Phil Parkinson felt they lacked intensity, and they were certainly opened up too often by a neat opposition midfield.
Here, he felt it was slightly different.
“We were almost trying too hard at times,” he said.
“That extra touch, we were a little bit hurried and sometimeswhenyou’relikethatyou don’t see the picture when the ball comes to you.”
Perhaps more importantly andsignificantlyfortheweeks and months ahead, he also noted that Doncaster Rovers had altered their approach to cope with the demands Sunderland have been placing on theiropponentsattheStadium of Light in recent weeks.
Parkinson noted that their midfield, both in selection and application,wastighterthanin recentweeksandconsiderably less open. It was a good move. They were combative but disciplined, quickly moving the ball into space in front of them.
Sunderland’s attacking wing-backs have been a thrill to watch of late but teams will increasingly know that if they canbepreciseintheirdistribution,thereisspacetobehadon the break.
The Black Cats were perhapsfortunatethatforalltheir tidy play, Doncaster were badly lacking presence in the final third and though they reached the edge of the box with relative ease, thereafter they were poor.
Sunderland’s back three were also typically assured, and it is a major positive that they are so regularly and so confidently keeping oppositions’ forward quiet.
This was their third clean sheetinarowandthoughtheir lasttwoopponentshavelooked lively in spells, they have not done too much to hurt an imposing backline.
In the early part of the season, their defensive statistics were excellent, much improved from last season, when Jon McLaughlin was so regularly the saviour.
The lack of clean sheets were a curious anomaly but the defence is getting its rewards now and it is encouraging because that consistency suggests it is sustainable.
As they had done against MKDons,Sunderlandstepped it up in the second half and though Doncaster were resolute,Parkinsonandhissidewill feel that this was a game they could ultimately have won.
“In the second half, we maintained the same kind of intensity without the ball but relaxedandcalmeddownwith it,” he said.
“Wemovedtheballquicker andourdecision-makingwasa lot better.
“I thought some of the football we played was good, even though we didn’t get a goal.
“InthesecondhalfIthought weprobablygotinenoughgood positions to win the game. But you have to stick the ball in the net to do that.”
An opportunity missed, but another point and another game unbeaten.
Sunderland are in a better position now than anyone could have imagined when they travelled to Doncaster just after Christmas, but there remainsahugeamountofwork to be done and this game perhaps underlined that.
Sunderland play eight games between now and
March 2, six of them against teams with genuine designs on the play-off positions and above.
It will be a stern and true test of this side’s promotion mettle and though they are in a good place on the pitch, it is abundantly clear that another injection of quality in the closing week of the transfer window could make all the difference.
Only13playershavestarted a game since Boxing Day, and GrantLeadbitterhasseenlittle action since starting that 0-0 draw with Bolton Wanderers.
That is a clear positive and oneofthekeyreasonswhythey have been able to play with such growing conviction and fluidity, but it is also probably not sustainable between now and the end of the season.
Parkinson does have optionsinreserve,withbothDuncanWatmoreandKyleLafferty bringing something different off the bench here.
He has been effusive in his praisefortheplayerswhohave seen little action of late and offeredapositiveupdateonElliot Embletonpost-match,withthe talentedandcreativeattacking midfielder only set to be missingforanothercoupleofweeks after an injury setback.
In a few key areas, however, he needs a touch more competition and players capable of replicating this style.
They always are, but these final days of the window feel like big ones for Sunderland.