Phil Parkinson delivers verdict on Leicester defeat, what went wrong and 'comical' penalty call

The Black Cats took a first half lead through Chris Maguire but two goals in the first ten minutes of the second half saw the visitors take three points from the Stadium of Light.

Parkinson made eight changes from the side that beat Southend United 1-0, but still picked an XI packed with experience.

He said the side ‘went away from what we’ve been doing’ in the early stages of his tenure.

“It’s disappointing,” Parkinson said.

“We got off to a great start, but it’s a big learning curve for myself. We’ve obviously changed the team around and pieced the team together to give players an opportunity, but two things stood out.

“The team were too open out of possession, exactly how we don’t want to be, we looked vulnerable in terms of the counter-attack, and then secondly, we played backwards too many times.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve spoken about penetrating the opposition and getting shots and crosses in, but we played backwards too often. Possession is good, but it’s got to be possession with a purpose, and I felt we went away from what we’ve been doing.

“It was vastly different personnel in the team, lads we haven’t done a great deal of team play with, but when you’re on the touchline and it’s almost like a 4-2-4 out of possession, it’s a hell of a big pitch to try to cover and you can get exposed.

“Even against a young team, albeit a very energetic team, that’s not the way to play here. The big thing for me is that it’s a lesson that we need to make sure when we’ve got the ball, we’re switching the play with a purpose, to get a shot in the box or get a cross in.

“At times, we turned down the opportunity to shoot or cross and came back, and that’s not how we want to do it.

“We haven’t done that in recent weeks, so it’s a learning curve to look at other players and see that when we go backwards too much, it’s very easy for opposition players to get behind the ball quickly.”

Parkinson conceded the defending for Kiernan Dewsbury Hall’s winner was soft, but also said the decision to award the penalty that saw George Hirst level the scores was ‘comical’.

Conor McLaughlin was penalised for a shirt pull on Leicester midfielder Callum Wright.

The result leaves the Black Cats in need of a positive result away at Scunthorpe next week to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stages of the leasing.com trophy.

“The aim was to win the game, whenever you pick a team that has got to be the aim," Parkinson said.

“We weren't able to do it, I have to say that the penalty decision is almost comical when you look back at it but I'm not going to moan too much about penalties because there were bigger talking points on the night.

“The second goal is too soft, we've let a lad get a shot away from the edge of the box too easily, blocking those attempts from distance is important, whether it's a centre-back or a central midfielder.

“He was able to dance through us and get a shot away too easily and that's disappointing.”