How Spurs loanee Jack Clarke summed up what's good about Alex Neil's Sunderland right now

Jack Clarke in particular produced his best all-round performance since arriving at the club on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.

The 21-year-old offered constant defensive support to Dennis Cirkin, and regularly relieved pressure by driving forward with the ball from deep inside his own half.

His energy levels understandably looked to be dropping as the game entered its final stages, but he found one more run into the channel to provide the assist for Patrick Roberts.

Neil says both showed how his side have managed to combine their technical ability with a work ethic out of possession.

"The hardest thing always is to get really creative players to work extremely hard," Neil said.

"But our lads have got an appetite and an understanding of the greater good, and the rest of their team-mates demand that. I demand it, and they demand it now from themselves which is great.

"You don't win games without graft.

"The rest of it, if you've got that quality, that's a bonus and we've got that."

Clarke's assist was a sign of his growing confidence and output at Sunderland.

"Young players, what tends to happen is they dip and then they come again," Neil said.

"He's got good quality, he can drive past people and that's a really useful thing to have in your team.

"He delivered the moment that we needed."