'More than...': Michael Beale's strong verdict on Sunderland draw and what 'wasn't good enough'

Michael Beale insisted that his Sunderland side were worthy of a point against Middlesbrough but conceded that his team had fallen short at the start of the second half.

Both sides traded big chances in the first half, with Abdoullah Ba seeing an effort cleared off the line. But it was the hosts who dominated the second half, taking a deserved lead when Marcus Forss rifled in a half volley. Sunderland laboured as they tried to find a way back into the game but rescued a point when Nazariy Rusyn beat Tom Glover at his near post.

Beale said the second half 'wasn't good enough' and praised Rusyn for his impact, but insisted that the performance deserved something.

"I thought it was a really good Championship game, it was a refreshing first half where both teams went for each other," he said.

"We wanted to be positive as the away team, we didn't want to play on the counter. I though tin the first half we had one really good opportunity, worked the ball into good areas in their box with Jack, Trai and Abdoullah - and I expect us to come with something from those opportunities.

"My message was more of the same really - stay in the game and push your style onto them. It's fair to say they started the second half much better than us and we've just talked about that in the dressing room, it's not good enough to start the game like. We concede off a set play, it's a bit unlucky in the ricochet but it's happening too often to us now in big games so we have to work on that. Our reaction was fantastic and with some of the areas Jack got into, maybe we should do better again. Are we gambling enough in the final third because there's tap-ins for us. If you can't win it's a big point, how big, we don't know yet. I think as the away team we'll be more pleased going home. I think we saw the good and the indifferent from our team today. Parts of our play were really good, the midfield battle was intriguing, when the going gets tough we need to stay in it and at the start of the second half we weren't winning enough duels right across the pitch, and all of a sudden in the last 20 minutes our tails were up and we were. That's the evolution of our team, when we come away we need to be at it for 90 minutes because it's so tight.

"Mason last week and Rusyn coming on today, I can never fault their work ethic," he added.

"We need to get more people close to them when we're crossing the ball, for example. Trai put some great crosses in and we need to get more players closer to Mason.

"I know the goalie might feel he may have done better, but we had a huge chance cleared off the line in the first half. Over the 90 minutes, I wouldn't want anyone saying the only reason we got a point is because their goalkeeper didn't save that shot. We more than deserved a point."

Sunderland are back in action against Plymouth at the Stadium of Light next weekend.