Chris Coleman shared his frustrations after his first match in charge of Sunderland at the Stadium of Light ended in defeat against Reading.
The Black Cats showed spells of promise in the opening 45, carving out a few half chances with Bryan Oviedo firing wide before David Edwards spooned the ball over the bar at the other end from seven yards.
However, on the stroke of half-time the pendulum swung in the visitors’ favour when Callum McManaman saw his goal chalked off for handball, resulting in the midfielder collecting his second yellow card and Sunderland being reduced to 10 men.
Reading royally raised the tempo in the second 45, and after Edwards broke the deadlock on 53 minutes, Modou Barrow then scored twice in three minutes to seal victory.
Joel Asoro did well to inject some energy into the Black Cats play late on, with the Swede winning a penalty after his initial strike was batted away from Vito Mannone.
Lewis Grabban dispatched the spot-kick to bag his 11th goal of the season, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Coleman’s side slipping to defeat on home soil.
"It was a big moment (the McManaman sending off), and we kind of need that to go for us," Coleman admitted.
"Especially here (at the Stadium of Light) where we have really struggled to get over the line.
"The goal is disallowed and then we get a man sent off - it is a big, big moment for us.
"Reading play possession football, they keep the ball very well and you have to be patient against them.
"They picked us off but the worst thing for us then was having only 10 men.
"We are nervous here and you can see that," he continued.
"We had a spring in our step in the last two games away from home but we are a bit nervous here.
"We have to overcome that, there is no way round it."
