Sunderland dressing room view on Bristol City defeat and Dan Ballard penalty appeal

Dan Neil says Sunderland were punished during 10 minutes of madness as they were beaten 1-0 by Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

Robins forward Tommy Conway scored the game’s only goal from the penalty spot in the 20th minute, after Taylor Gardner-Hickman was brought by Black Cats goalkeeper Anthony Patterson in the box.

“It’s kind of the same story as a lot of games this year,” said Neil. “I think we’ve dominated for a good 80 minutes of the game but there is almost that 10 minutes of madness where we become a bit slack, a bit sloppy, a loss of concentration. In that 10-minute period we have been stung and got punished for it.

“There was a few mistakes before the eventual one that led to the goal that could have got punished, but I think other than that 10 minutes we played really well. We created so many chances that I think we should have got  something from the game.”

Sunderland also saw multiple appeals for a penalty turned down, with Dan Ballard going down inside the Bristol City box in second-half stoppage time.

“I was behind the Ballard one and for me it looked like he got caught and went down,” added Neil. “At the end of the day the ref has made a decision and we can’t do anything about it. We just have to get on with it.

“There are loads of other times where we haven’t been as clinical in the final third and a better touch here and there and we would have scored. We can talk about the decisions but there is also other points in the game where we could have finished it off.”