Luke O'Nien delivers Sunderland dressing room view on Hull loss and explains next steps under Michael Beale

Luke O’Nien didn’t feel Sunderland deserved to lose against Hull and says the club remain in a promising position in the Championship table.

The Black Cats were beaten 1-0, courtesy of Fabio Carvalho’s 71st-minute goal, while a section of the home crowd chanted ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ towards head coach Michael Beale at the Stadium of Light.

“You can say it’s difficult but equally I feel like we limited them to not many chances,” said O’Nien. “I feel like we got into some good areas, yet the scoreline doesn’t reflect that. That’s obviously where the disappointment comes from.

“For a young team you can say we’ve got to learn lessons but equally I think the club will be sitting three points off the play-offs after this weekend. We have been in worse situations in the last three, four, five years so it’s not all doom and gloom being three points off the play-offs.

“We wanted the points, worked really hard for them and had some good moments in there, limiting them to some chances. We just didn’t quite get the rub of the green.”

Asked what was said in the dressing room after the game, O’Nien told the Echo: “We talked as a group just about the game. There wasn’t too much said in the fact that we’re in tomorrow and have our meetings tomorrow. There is also a lot of emotion, disappointment after the game. A common theme whether it’s a win or a loss, we tend to have a little chat here and there and the bigger debrief goes tomorrow where emotions have settled down. I know quite a few people will watch the game back tonight and give a better perspective and better lessons tomorrow.

He added: “We all have a voice, whether it’s half-time or before the game there are lots of voices contributing to performances. There are always voices and that will be the same again tomorrow. It’s all for the same thing. We all want to win and want to get better, having voices after defeats is just as important as having voices after a win. 

“We all want the same thing, we want to get into the play-offs, we want to get into the Premier League. It’s our job to back that up with performances and if we don’t we just have to keep looking to improve and keep looking to get better.”