Robbie Stockdale was left bitterly disappointed as Sunderland under-21s fell to a slender defeat at Doncaster Rovers this evening.
The young Black Cats produced a spirited performance in the Checkatrade Trophy tie at the Keepmoat Stadium, but slipped to defeat when Issam Ben Khemis struck in the second period.
Stockdale’s side huffed and puffed as the half wore on but apart from Luke Molyneux’s stooping header, Sunderland created little to threaten Marko Marosi in the Rovers goal.
Speaking to safc.com post-match, Stockdale cut a disappointed figure.
"I felt we got what we deserved from the game tonight," he said.
"I was very disappointed with our first-half display, we didn't play with any intensity and I thought our movement to get on the ball wasn't great.
"Off the ball we were ok and we had a solid little shape. We didn't really ask any meaningful questions of Doncaster's defence.
"We decided to change it tactically and tried to change the mentality at half-time and I thought for the first 20-25 minutes of the second-half we moved it a lot quicker.
"We were more of a threat, we ran forward and we did all of the things we would expect a Sunderland team to do.
"Ultimately, we crumbled and didn't create an awful lot, we made a mistake and they scored with a good finish."
