Jack Ross reacts to Aiden McGeady's awful penalty in Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Rotherham United

Sunderland were a goal to the good against Rotherham United thanks to Marc McNulty’s strike 34 seconds in when the Black Cats were awarded a penalty after 28 minutes when Lynden Gooch was bundled over.

Gooch wanted to take it but McGeady took the strike, his side-footed effort easily saved by Daniel Iversen.

Ross said: “That is a really good opportunity to go further ahead but the key aspect is more not keeping a clean sheet rather than the penalty miss.

“Is it the same as Charlie [Wyke’s] miss or the other saves, that happens in games.

“The bottom line is we don’t concede second half then we win.”

Ross added: "I do feel in general that we have looked more secure defensively than we did last season. It's just at the moment we're getting punished for not that many opportunities against us.

“If I look back at this season, at this point Jon McLaughlin had probably made a lot more big saves. To date, he's not made that many.

“He's still made some at times - he made one tonight - but we just have to get better at it.

“As I've mentioned already, that responsibility falls upon me and the work we're doing, we work hard and relentlessly at it and we'll continue to do that until we get it right.”