The dressing room verdict on Shrewsbury defeat and why Sunderland players are feeling positive

The Black Cats fell to their fourth defeat of the season after Jason Cummings’ first-half goal, halting the momentum from a sparkling display against Tranmere Rovers on Tuesday night.

O’Nien was one of three Sunderland players to hit the woodwork as they chased the equaliser, and the 24-year-old says the dressing room are confident they will start climbing the table if they keep creating those openings.

“Today was very frustrating,” he said.

“I think we created a lot of chances, but it was really disappointing to concede. When you play a team like this, if you get the first goal, it’s important because they then sat back in and credit to them, they defended very well.

“We‘ve hit the bar, the post, just couldn’t quite get the ball in the back of the net.

“The amount of balls going into the box, the amount of chances, the amount of balls that flashed across their back four, the shots we had, I think the stats are good.

“We were just saying in the dressing room, if we keep doing that then we’ll score a lot of goals and come away with a lot of points.

“It feels like we’re creating more.

“It felt like it today with Denver putting a lot of crosses in. If we keep doing that the points will come.”

Consistency has been an issue for the Black Cats this season, now eight points adrift of second place, but O’Nien says the level of performance on Saturday shows they can produce that going forward.

“The way we played against Tranmere and here, I think the performances have been quite similar, the way we created, the way we pressed and passed the ball,” he said.

“You don’t always get the points and you’ve got to be clinical, but the points will come if we carry on like that.

“You’ve got to stay consistent in your thinking.

“There’s a lot of games to go. You’ve got to go in each game with a level head, back yourself and be confident like we always will be.”