Mood is buoyant again, says Neil, as Wearsiders put wobble behind them
good going into a heavy schedule before the end of the year.”
Neil’s goal came from a wellworked set-piece routine after only four minutes, with Alex Pritchard’s corner laid off by Callum Doyle into the midfielder’s path and he applied the finish.
Nathan Broadhead added the second goal with less than 15 minutes on the clock and at that stage it looked as though Sunderland would run away with the game as they created chance after chance.
They were unable to find the third goal which would have killed the game and when Plymouth came out reinvigorated for the second half and pulled a goal back it meant Sunderland’s defence had to stand firm in the final stages of the game.
Neil said: “In this division, two goals sometimes isn’t enough.
“We knew that going into half time and so that was probably a bit frustrating.
“To be honest I thought even in the second half we picked and choose our moments to counterattack on them, and when to keep the ball in our half -, and we did it perfectly.
“We could have been out of sight, but we weren’t, and then that’s when as a side everyone has to put a shift in defensively. We did that and we have done that the past few weeks - it was a brilliant team performance in the end to get a win.”
Neil’s goal was his second in the league for the club, and he believes that is an area of his game that he can improve.
He said: “I still want to chip in with a few more goals, to be honest.
“I think I’m doing well in terms of the assists. At the start of the season I was looking at six to eight or eight to ten goals.
“So it was good to pick up another
goal but like I say I want a few more before the end of the season.”
Neil has been an automatic choice for Sunderland in his breakthrough season, and at different times has played alongside Luke O’Nien and Corry Evans in central midfield but more recently those two players have been out injured and that has meant Carl Winchester has moved into the middle of the park.
He said: “I’ve enjoyed playing with all the lads, to be honest, but unfortunately Luke and Corry have obviously picked up those injuries.
“Winchy has been brilliant in there, I think. He never stops for 90 minutes, ratting around, picking up second balls, and then he’s got that quality in that possession.”
■ STEVEN Schumacher admits his Plymouth side wasastaring down the barrel after giving Sunderland a 2-0 head start inside the opening 15 minutes.
The defeat leaves new boss Schumacher with one point from his first two games in charge of the Pilgrims after he stepped up from the assistant role following Ryan Lowe’s departure to take the reins at Championship side Preston last week.
“It wasn’t a great start, obviously,” said Schumacher. “We’re disappointed to have given them a 2-0 head-start, it’s a tough enough game here at the best of times.
“They scored from a well-worked corner routine and sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say fair play, it was clever and it inventive. The second goal we’re very disappointed with because we felt it was too easy.
“For the rest of the half we hung on in, to be honest, we were under pressure even though we had a lot of the ball, they looked the more likely.
“Second half we got a bit closer to them, won a lot more second balls and had more of a threat.”