Bowyer left impressed by Sunderland after Valley draw

Lee Bowyer admits he was happy to settle against a Sunderland side who he feels have improved from their meeting at Wembley last year.

The Black Cats finished with ten men at The Valley after Tom Flanagan saw red for bringing down Connor Washington with just under twenty minutes to play.

Su n d e rl a n d h ad d o m i - nated the game up until that point, missing some glorious chances to take the lead and forcing some fine stops from Charlton goalkeeper Ben Amos.

Bowyer is still building his squad after spending most of the summer under a transfer embargo, but was still disappointed with their play.

“I think a point against a strong Sunderland side, I think they’ll be up there at the end of the season,” Bowyer said.

"They’ve got some good players in that side, good experience and some good legs. They’re better now than when we played them before. The situation with us and the state our squad is in at the moment then I think it is a it a good point.

“[Charlton’s performance was] not good enough. That’s not what I’m used to seeing. I think we looked nervy in possession at times, a lot of the time. We gave the ball away far too much. That’s not like us at all.

"They were a lot better than us first-half, they were braver in possession. It was a battle in the first half, who could get their outside centre halves to be brave and step in and they won that battle.

“I changed it and tried to put Alfie [Doughty] up top as a second striker to prevent that and have a presence up top. Even then, we had an extra body in midfield but didn’t capitalise on it. We gave the b a l l away i n m i d f i e l d t o o much, that’s why.”

Bowyer says he thanked his goalkeeper Amos for his performance.

The Charlton goalkeeper made a number of key stops, particularly in the first half when he made one superb intervention to prevent Bailey Wright heading the Black

Cats into the lead from a corner.

"We got into some good positions once they went down to ten men. Don’t forget, if he hadn’t brought him down he probably goes on and scores. In a way I’m thinking it’s positive they’re down to ten men but negative he was through one on one with the goalie.

"There were good things and bad things today, I’ll try to look at the good things.”