• 8 months ago
Sunderland Head Coach Michael Beale has praised his young squad following their draw away at Middlesbrough in the Championship. He also spoke of the pressure and importance riding on every match as the season draws to a close, with the play-offs the target. Daniel Wales reports.

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Transcript
00:00 Sunderland weathered several storms throughout their championship encounter,
00:06 with Middlesbrough in their last outing to come away with a point on Teesside.
00:11 Whilst the real weather continues to play havoc,
00:14 head coach Michael Beale spoke on whether the point at Borough was a good one in the context of the day.
00:21 If you win your home games, it's a good point away from home,
00:25 but actually we have to go away from home and win more than we have won,
00:28 so there's always a frustration. We didn't go to Middlesbrough looking for a point.
00:32 I think we showed that in the first half for whatever reason,
00:35 and we spoke about in-house some of the reasons, but it remained there.
00:40 We didn't start the second half well.
00:42 They started the second half and started winning the draws,
00:45 and they scored off a deflection that falls for their guys.
00:47 It's a great finish, but obviously on our part it's not something we're pleased with.
00:51 Our reaction was good.
00:53 If you go away to Middlesbrough and you only give up two shots on target,
00:57 and you're a goal, you're certainly disappointed if you didn't get something from the game.
01:00 So I think that's it.
01:01 As much as they had a 30-minute period in the second half where they were stronger than us,
01:05 it didn't lead to Pat Owen to make big saves.
01:08 But certainly when we recover the ball, we have to play a bit quicker,
01:13 we have to make less errors, that's clear.
01:15 And when we get up the pitch, so in the last 10 minutes,
01:18 I think we had two or three opportunities where if people really gamble and run through the goal,
01:23 we're winning that game.
01:24 With such a tight race for the playoffs, Beale also spoke on every match now having an extra edge to it,
01:30 with points being so important.
01:32 Yeah, I think the games are massive.
01:34 You can't call the league.
01:36 Last week there were some results that you wouldn't have been able to call before it.
01:39 This weekend's the same.
01:41 All we can do is do our job and try and get as many points as possible and take one game at a time.
01:47 Plymouth will give us a different challenge to Huddersfield and Birmingham for sure.
01:50 Huddersfield may have a new manager by then, you know,
01:54 Birmingham have had a new manager, so we're having to look and see what these teams are doing.
01:58 Plymouth have only had a new manager the last five or six games,
02:01 so it's an intriguing league.
02:04 And the most important thing for us is that we put the maximum effort and focus into every game.
02:11 Finally, Beale gave praise to his squad and spoke about his enjoyment in working at Sunderland so far.
02:18 We have a really vibrant young group with a lot of ambition.
02:23 So, you know, there's a lot of excitement, there's a lot of positivity in this building.
02:28 You know, we think we're a young team, we come in, a lot of these players have got high hopes for the future.
02:33 To manage and get them to know the staff has been fantastic, I have to say.
02:38 I think we have the stadium which sells the most seats in the league,
02:44 we have the biggest away football, so every time we play it's a special day.
02:47 And I think that's what you put across to this young group.
02:50 But I can't get over really, in words, enough to people that when you come in a building,
02:55 you've got 25 young players that have got a burning ambition for the future.
03:00 That's such a positive environment to walk into every day.
03:03 - Very nice.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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