Aji Alese delivers Sunderland dressing room verdict after Watford defeat at Vicarage Road

Aji Alese says Sunderland had enough chances to beat Watford as they were beaten 1-0 at Vicarage Road.

Hornets substitute Ryan Andrews scored the only goal of the match in the 64th minute, meaning the Black Cats have won just two of their last 14 league games.

Alese has missed most of this season due to injury setbacks but has started Sunderland’s last two matches in defence. When asked about the defeat at Watford, the 23-year-old said: “We had chances in the first half and the second half, which on another day we take and go into the lead. Ultimately we didn’t take them so that’s just how it panned out.

“I think you can probably look at the first 25, 30 minutes and they probably penned us in a little bit and had more of the ball in our final third. They didn’t really create much and once we grew into the game we had those chances just before half time. In the second half we had chances again.

“I guess we could say for a large period of the game we were on top or were the better team but it boils down to conceding and not scoring and we ended up losing the game.”

Sunderland have one fixture remaining this season and will host Sheffield Wednesday at the Stadium of Light next weekend. The Owls only need a point to secure their place in the Championship next season, following a 3-0 win over West Brom.