Mike Dodds makes honest admission after Sunderland win and reveals what players told him afterwards

Mike Dodds says Sunderland's dressing room feel they are in a good place after the impressive win over West Brom on Saturday afternoon, but admits he would like to try and improve the style and attacking play in the final three weeks of the season.

The Black Cats kept their fifth clean sheet in six games at The Hawthorns, and took the lead through Pierre Ekwah's strike just before the half-time interval. Brandon Thomas-Asante had been dismissed for a second yellow card just moments before, in what proved to be the crucial moment in the game.

Dodds says his young side are showing signs of maturing and have built a strong platform to move forward from, but added that it's now on him to try and add more potency in the final third. In truth it was a game in which neither goalkeeper was tested with any real regularity.

"The group just had a chance to speak in there and they feel they're in a really good place, that's five clean sheets in six games," Dodds said.

"With any team, if you're not conceding goals then it gives you a really strong foundation. To be honest I want us to be more free flowing with the ball but sometimes you have to tighten up in certain areas and that can take away from that.

"So if I'm being ultra-critical then I have to find that balance, but they are a really good team with a really good coach. The red card is obviously a big turning point in the game but I thought it was a professional, thorough performance. We spoke as a group about our attacking play and we felt there were things we could have exploited, and I don't think we did that consistently enough.

"That being said, it's hard to be too critical because they've put three or four really solid performances together where they look like a strong, solid outfit. It's easy to gorget that we're coming here with the youngest team in the league, and we looked really mature. I want to be demanding, but to win 1-0 here regardless of the red card is a really good result."

Dodds played a back five for the second game in a row at West Brom and while he admits it has detracted slightly from the team's play, he doesn't feel that is all down to the formation and it'll clearly be in consideration moving forward.

"That's the point I'm trying to make, you are obviously taking something away to look more solid," Dodds said.

"Even within that shape, I do still feel like we can get bodies high up the pitch and there were two or three moments where we did that in the first half but we just didn't get the final pass right. So that's not a shape thing, that's a decision-making thing. But we have a 16-year-old playing, an 18-year-old up front, Timmy making his second start in the Championship, Jack Clarke still working his way back. So I can't be overly critical, but it is obviously something that we need to work on."