Andy Welsh believes Sunderland under-23s must rekindle their defensive resilience following back-to-back Premier League 2 draws.
The young Black Cats were held to a point for the second time in five days on Sunday as Reading produced a physical display to frustrate the hosts at Eppleton CW.
While the Royals raced into an early lead through Omar Richards, the development team dug deep and struck back before the break as George Honeyman rammed the ball home from a tight angle.
After conceding just 20 league goals last term the under-23s have let in 13 goals already after just eight matches, and speaking post-match Welsh admitted his side must deal better with the physical side of the game.
“Their desire and endeavour was fantastic all game but for the first 15-20 minutes we found it difficult to compete physically,” he said.
“They were a big, strong and aggressive team and it took us a while to deal with their physical attributes.
“Once we found our feet we passed it better and I thought we scored a super goal with a fine end product from George Honeyman.
“Last year we prided ourselves on not conceding and this year we have conceded too many times but to be fair to Reading they scored an excellent goal which broke us down.
“The response from the lads was terrific to get it back to 1-1 and at half time I thought we had a great chance to go on and win the game,” he continued.
“We were much better after the break, we got to grips with them better and we certainly held our own. We passed it better but we needed to be more clinical in and around the final third.”
