Johnson left ‘disappointed’ by Hull goals

THERE was frustration for Lee Johnson as he admitted he was ‘disappointed’ with both goals Sunderland conceded in their draw at League One leaders Hull City.

A series of defensive injuries have led to the Black Cats developing a habit of conceding soft goals in recent games, and that has played a major role in effectively ending their automatic promotion hopes.

Against Hull, Callum McFadzean was found wanting as he twice failed to stop Mallik Wilks delivering crosses, and on both occasions Josh Magennis got the better of Bailey Wright to head home.

Johnson said: “Yes, I was disappointed with both goals we conceded but you have to respect that Hull carry threats and we have players at the moment who are like Polyfilla – they are filling in all over the gaff!

“It’s difficult to talk about the goals in detail until I have watched them back, to be honest.

“There are many things that lead up to any goal, it’s normally a domino effect – pressure on the ball, could we have stopped the cross, could we have engaged earlier in the box, did we step up?

“And I think you are going to get that at times in a team with two midfielders [Max Power and Luke O’Nien] playing in the back four.”

To be fair to Wright, it is no surprise that he is rusty as he has only just returned after two months out through injury and has been thrown straight in at the deep end and asked to play two games a week.

“As frustrating as it is to concede goals, they have done extremely well and Bailey Wright has done extremely well considering he has had eight or nine weeks out and then he has been slammed straight back in to three or four games in 12 days,” said Johnson.

The draw brought to an end Sunderland’s run of three straight defeats, although they have now gone five games without a win.