David Moyes was left frustrated as Sunderland squandered a two-goal lead against Crystal Palace before losing in the final seconds of added time.
Christian Benteke towered above the Black Cats defence in the 94th minute to power a header past Jordan Pickford and into the net, with Moyes admitting his side paid the ultimate price for failing to control the Belgian.
The Lads entered the break leading 1-0 and when Jermain Defoe grabbed his second of the game a first Premier League of the season seemed imminent, but within 60 seconds Damian Delaney pulled one back and with 74 minutes on the clock James McArthur levelled.
Moyes’ side reacted well and like their opponents they searched for a winner, but lapse in concentration proved costly and Benteke’s late header rendered Sunderland pointless.
“For us to do the defending job so basic is poor and that's what costing us at the moment,” said the Sunderland manager. “We're just not being reliable enough defensively and because of that we're finding it tough.
“We never gave ourselves a chance - after getting two in front we conceded within 30 seconds.
“We didn't do the basics,” he continued. “We had a chance to clear for the first goal and didn't then we had a chance to defend the back post for the second.
“If we had [done the basics] we would have won the game. I'm really disappointed to concede three goals from two up.
“We need to do much better.”
