Sunderland were held to a goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday evening, with Head Coach Régis Le Bris making clear that his side found it difficult to break down the Baggies, who sat deep and soaked up pressure. Daniel Wales reports from the Stadium of Light.
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00:00A cold and dark evening in Sunderland saw the sky illuminated by the Stadium of Light.
00:05The visit of West Brom would certainly be a test for the Black Cats in an encounter
00:09heightened further by the return of Josh Madger to Wearside following his departure from Sunderland
00:14in 2019, made famous by its coverage on Sunderland Till I Die on Netflix.
00:19However, Madger nor anyone else could be the difference maker on what was a frustrating
00:24evening for both teams at the Stadium of Light. A rather predictable goalless draw was the
00:29outcome, although Sunderland did come close on a number of occasions in the second half.
00:34Chris Rigg saw an effort block from the middle of the box before Patrick Roberts saw his
00:39deft shot creep just wide. Wilson Isidor also had a goal ruled out for offside. Neither
00:44keeper had been tested though, and although the home side had been more of the threatening
00:48team and certainly were more in control of proceedings, it always seemed that a draw
00:53would be the outcome.
00:55West Brom did fashion an opportunity late on though, when Lewis Dobbin saw an effort
01:00cleared from the line by Dan Ballard, but that was the extent of their ambition.
01:05After the full-time whistle, Sunderland head coach Regis Lebris summarised what was a difficult
01:09evening for his side.
01:11A little bit disappointed and frustrated for sure. It was the main feeling in the dressing
01:17room at the end of the game. In a positive part, it shows that against such a good team,
01:26well organised with good players, it shows that we are getting better in many areas of
01:33the game. We had probably three or four chances to score and we didn't. So for many reasons
01:42for sure, but probably because we are still young, we didn't manage so well the frustration
01:50we can have in this kind of situation and lack of accuracy, lack of discipline sometimes
01:57from just a question of centimetres.
01:59The result marks Sunderland's fifth draw in a row, which is clearly a frustration, although
02:04Lebris said it was difficult to encapsulate the emotions in his camp, given that Sunderland
02:09are also on an unbeaten run.
02:11Many different scenarios. We had many different scenarios. At Millwall, it was different.
02:16At Preston, we didn't deserve to win. Against Millwall, maybe today we deserved to win.
02:23So it's still different experiences and at least it shows that we are becoming consistent
02:29and we can face different styles of play, different scenarios and we are still at the
02:35level, difficult to beat.
02:37Baggi's boss Carlos Corberán was complimentary of Sunderland in his post-match thoughts,
02:41but also praised the mentality of his own players.
02:44In the start of the game, Sunderland was much better than us. They deserved the win today
02:49with any type of doubt, but I love the mentality and the resilience of my players because in
02:55a difficult situation, they have competed again in the level that we could compete again.