Dan Neil explains the Sunderland dressing room view after Ipswich Town loss and his first goal of the season

Dan Neil believes there were positives to take despite Sunderland’s 2-1 defeat against Ipswich at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats almost recovered from two goals down after the midfielder pulled one back with four minutes of normal time remaining.

Neil then hit the post after 13 minutes of stoppage-time were shown, yet Tony Mowbray’s side couldn’t force an equaliser.

“I think we dominated for large parts,” Neil told Sunderland’s website after the match. “We probably didn’t create as many clear-cut chances as we might have wanted to, and two sloppy goals really.

“Obviously the first one is a deflection and the second one is a sloppy bit of play and maybe a bit too easy.

“I think overall there were positives. Like I say I think we dominated the game, showed good flashes of football.

“We just need to put this one behind us and look forward to next week.”

Tony Mowbray’s side will now prepare for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup game against Crewe, before next weekend’s trip to Preston in the Championship.

The game against Ipswich saw Jobe Bellingham and Hemir make their competitive debuts for Sunderland, while Tuesday’s fixture will provide opportunities for some of the club’s other new signings.

“We obviously have new additions to the squad, Jobe and Hemir and all of the other lads on the bench,” said Neil. “It’s going to take time to integrate everybody and get used to playing with people.

“Although we haven’t started how we wanted to start, I think there were still positives to take from it and we need to go and implement them on Tuesday night, and then look forward to Saturday as well.”

Neil’s goal came after a low cross into the box from Dennis Cirkin, with the former showing his ability to make offensive runs from central midfield.

“I think the gaffer has given me licence to get in the box a bit more this year, instead of kind of sitting for transitions,” Neil explained when discussing his goal.

“I thought I broke into the box well and luckily Dennis picked us out on that one and I managed to find the back of the net.”