Fulham boss rues Sunderland spirit
Playing to the final whistle has never been Sunderland's problem under Roy Keane, and Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez was left rueing his side's inability to do the same on Saturday.
For a lot of the first half and a chunk of the second, the Londoners looked well on top as Sunderland struggled for fluency and couldn't find an accurate enough delivery into the box for the excellent Kenwyne Jones.
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In truth, real chances were at a premium for the Cottagers and it was a strangely familiar story for them in the end as they failed to hold on to the lead given to them by Simon Davies's excellent first-half free-kick.
It was that man Jones they couldn't keep up with – the former Southampton forward leaping to head an 85th-minute equaliser.
Sub Anthony Stokes might even have won it with an injury-time effort
that Antti Niemi saved at close quarters.
Sanchez said: "I think only one team should have won the game. Only one team looked like it was going to win the game and to be undone with five minutes to go is disappointing.
"But for Antti's save at the end we could have gone home with nothing, which would have been a gross injustice.
"That's football. If you don't take your chances when you're ahead, it is open for the other team – especially if it's the home team – to chuck everything at you and hope that something ricochets in.
"They put enough balls into the box for the big man of and his goal was the only one he got on the end of.
"We played Wigan and had an identical situation. We completely dominated them and then gave a penalty away with 10 minutes to go.
"It is getting to be a bit of a scenario that we have to sort out."
Saturday's draw left Sunderland 15th in the Premier League on nine points, with Fulham a place above due to a better goal difference.
Both clubs are only two points above the drop zone and Fulham have won only once, with Sunderland claiming two victories in their opening 11 games.
"We do an awful lot of things well," Sanchez said of his men. "We're a decent side.
"It's just performing for 90 minutes and getting away with all of the points that we're finding difficult. It depresses me.
"I see some results in the Premier League with teams conceding six and seven goals, even three or four. We had one bad afternoon against Portsmouth and were beaten 2-0. That was our worst result.
"We've been in every other game – even against top teams like Arsenal.
"We can compete, but we can't gather three points from one game – we have to do it in three games, which does make it rather difficult.
"If we play like that in 90 per cent of our games, barring the last five minutes, we will be OK."
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Friday 10 February 2012
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