'Never saw it coming'': Ipswich Town boss fumes at key calls in this verdict on Sunderland defeat

The Ipswich Town boss fumed at referee Tony Nield's decision to award the Black Cats a stoppage-time penalty for handball, after Ross Stewart's volley was blocked at close range by Aristote Nsiala.

Luke O'Nien had given Sunderland the lead minutes before with a back-post header, Lee Johnson side's first effort on target on the game.

“It’s football,” Cook said.

“If someone had said to you on 85 minutes that we’d lose the game 2-0 I think you’d have fallen over, because I didn’t see it coming.

“I never saw it coming.

“We were in control, we had a lot of possession albeit in the second half we didn’t really look like scoring.

“But we had big chances in the first half and you have got to take those.

“If we do, they have to open up and it might suit us.

“We played very, very well.

“The penalty decision, you couldn’t make it up.

"We controlled the game for long, long spells. I didn't feel we were in any trouble in the game and yet we come away on the end of a 2-0.

"You've got to say well done to Sunderland. Football is about results and Sunderland have got the result. You have to respect that."

"There's an incident in the first half where one of our players [Macauley Bonne] is punched twice as clear as anything and they don't see it. There's four of them there.

"Then the referee manages to give a penalty that everyone in the stadium is shocked at," Cook added.

"It is what it is. The referee's do their best. There's no criticism towards the referee, I just felt in those moments they could have done better.

"We had chances to be in the lead, we had chances to be in the ascendancy, we controlled the game as we wanted to, I felt we played very, very well and unfortunately we haven't got the result. So we say well done to Sunderland and we move on.

"I'm just really disappointed," he added.

"We've had really good travelling support and we wanted to get a good positive result that would see us get in a better position. "We've played quite well today, but unfortunately you don't always get what you deserve.

"I've been around football long enough to know that if we keep playing like that we won't have a problem that's for sure.

"We could go through the team and break it down, but we've lost 2-0. You can't be saying 'well done' and patting people on the back. Could we have done more to win the game? I don't feel we could. Did we look comfortable in the game? Yes, I felt we were. Unfortunately we've lost. That's football.

"You have to take your medicine. We say well done to Sunderland. It's a long, long season and we have to come back stronger."

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