On a spectacularly misty, foggy and rainy night on Wearside, Chris Coleman’s Sunderland yet again let a glorious opportunity to pull themselves out of trouble in the Championship relegation battle after conceding a late equaliser to Norwich City at the Stadium of Light.
For the neutral watching on (if any), this was an entertaining encounter where both teams had many chances to win the game, which included a missed penalty from Sunderland’s Aiden McGeady, who hit the post from the spot before George
Honeyman gave us the lead in the second half.
In typical Sunderland fashion of this time, they conceded an equaliser with only minutes remaining on the clock which was a gut-wrenching blow for survival, given the teams around them such as Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City lost on the same evening.
The home side’s failure to deal with James Maddison’s free-kick, with an unmarked Ivan Pinto left with the simple task of slotting home from close range in the 89th minute appeared to be almost the final nail in the coffin for them as this draw left Coleman’s team six points adrift of safety with four games remaining.
The former Wales manager almost admitted defeat himself in the aftermath of the game as he displayed his best forlorn ‘ER’ impression when speaking to the media after the full time whistle.
“We need four wins now don’t we?” admitted Coleman. “We could have put pressure on Reading tonight, before we go there on Saturday. If we had then beaten them, the gap (to Reading) would have been three points and the pressure would have been on them. With us dropping two points, that could make a difference to them.
“There are 12 points available, and the gap has lessened a little bit, but we should be sitting here now saying, ‘Right, it’s game on now on Saturday’. But, unfortunately, we have just given ourselves a little bit more to do
“The two points we have given up is a big, big blow, especially with the other results having gone for us.”
Ultimately, Sunderland kept making the same mistakes over and over throughout this campaign, and an enormous defensive frailty has resulted in fighting a losing battle for most of the season, notwithstanding the countless other issues facing them on and off the pitch.
All too often this season, Sunderland’s players have failed to deal with routine balls into the box, and they have repeatedly conceded in the dying seconds of either the first or second half of matches. This angered Coleman, who couldn’t really explain the reasons for it but only rueing it’s regular occurrence.
“It is bitterly disappointing,” he said. “We were within five minutes of taking all three points, but we end up with one.
“The nature of the goal is disappointing too, it’s naivety. It is very difficult to say to the players, ‘We need more again’ because it was a performance with lots of shots and attempts, the intent and mentality was there.
“We were a little bit fatigued I think, but that is to be expected with two games in four or five days. It could have gone either way to be fair, but at 1-0 up, you have to see that through. You have to see it out.
Coleman was a very good talker to the media, but it appears less so with the players as the messages simply were not getting across and unfortunately, it was the same old story for the home side as another season of dejection was coming to a close with that familiar sinking feeling impending.
