Andy Welsh lavished praise on his players desire to come from behind twice to earn a point against Derby County in the Premier League 2 on Wednesday evening.
Sunderland under-23s were vibrant throughout but fell behind when Alex Babos bundled the ball over the line in the 57th minute after poor defending.
The Black Cats fought their way back and levelled in the 76th minute through Daniel Wright as the game burst into life.
A minute later lapse defending at the other end saw Sunderland punished for a second time, before Tom Beadling calmly dispatched a penalty in the closing stages to earn the development squad a deserved point.
Speaking post-match Welsh delivered his verdict.
“I thought if we hadn’t got something from the game then it might have been an injustice,” he said.
“We gave them two goals but the response from the players was excellent and we got ourselves back into it.
“We drove ourselves back into it on both occasions and I thought in the first half we passed it well but we didn’t get forward enough at times.
“I don’t think we worked their goalkeeper enough but we were in control and in the second half we gave a poor goal away but the response was excellent.
“From there, we came out we got forward and we managed to get ourselves back in it but we were disappointed to give away the second one.
“Overall, we were a little bit open at times but again it is a good learning tool and I think it’s two points dropped rather than one gained.”
