Elliott Dickman has demanded more from Sunderland’s under-23s following their 3-1 defeat to Manchester United.
The Black Cats started slowly at Eppleton CW and they were punished with 27 minutes played, as Demetri Mitchell coolly converted from the penalty spot.
Six minutes later United doubled their lead as Scott McTominay’s strike took a wicked deflection to deceive Max Stryjek, who was beaten for a third time after 71 minutes as Devonte Redmond made it 3-0.
Late drama saw Regan Poole sent off before George Honeyman reduced the arrears in added time, but it was too little too late and Dickman admits they must be better.
“I don’t think the first half was great – it was very poor,” said the under-23 boss.
“I told the lads they needed to be better at half-time and I thought there was a bit of a reaction, but although we raised the quality it was always going to be difficult being 2-0 down.”
He continued: “Both ‘keepers worked but the goals we conceded are soft and they are all preventable.
“We tried to go and win the game and we tried to be positive, but at the same time we did struggle in spells and we need to improve.
“I’ve said it before but there needs to be a resilience, and we need to be a bit more compact and harder to break down.”