Elliott Dickman admitted he was disappointed by his side’s overall display at Tottenham Hotspur on Monday evening.
Kazaiah Sterling scored the game’s only goal inside five minutes, capitalising on lapse defending from stopper Max Strjyek to slot into an empty net.
Sunderland responded valiantly but drew blanks time and time again as it took them until the second period to muster any clear cut openings.
And when the Lads did create the chance, it fell to Joel Asoro who saw his jinky effort rebound off the foot of the post and across goal.
That proved to be the last meaningful effort the Black Cats created, and speaking post-match Dickman shared his disappointment.
“It was a gift of the goal and we have got to deal with the ball better,” he said.
“It’s just little thing like that, that costs you because when you give a team that kind of edge and opportunity to score as easily as they did sometimes you never come back.
“I thought the lads worked hard and gave a good account of themselves but some of our quality let us down in the final third.
He continued: “I thought Spurs played the pitch better than what we did.
“They didn’t over play and they got the ball forward quickly – that’s something we need to be mindful as a group.”
