Phil Parkinson fumes at key penalty decision and reacts to another hugely disappointing result for Sunderland

The Black Cats lost two points in the dying seconds of the game, with Fejiri Okenabirhie scoring from close range as the visitors failed to clear a cross from the box.

Sunderland had dominated the first half at the Keepmoat Stadium, with Grant Leadbitter scoring a stunning goal from 25 yards just before the interval.

Parkinson was left furious that his side weren’t given the opportunity to open the scores ten minutes earlier, when Lynden Gooch beat Doncaster Rovers defender Joe Wright to a loose ball in the box.

The incident was similar to the one that cost the Black Cats a week previous, when Max Power brought MK Dons midfielder Scott Fraser down in the box as he attempted to clear his lines.

Here, the infringement was arguably even more obvious.

Parkinson said it was a ‘stonewall’ penalty, though he conceded that his side should nevertheless have seen the game out and won the three points.

“We weren’t given a penalty, and when you look at that, you just don’t know how,” Parkinson said.

"Last week, we had the penalty against us and I had to say in the current climate, maybe it would be given. But if you see this one back, you will not believe it.

"How he has not given the penalty there, I don’t know.

" They’re big moments in games, and refs have to get those decisions right.

"And even if he hasn’t seen it, or he’s seen it but not given it, the linesman on this side has got to say, ‘You’ve got that wrong’.

"It’s an absolute stonewall penalty, it really is. I’m frustrated with that because refs have to get those big decisions right and it’s proved costly, but equally, we had enough control, we just had to see the game through.

"We should be sat in the dressing room with another three points from our travels.”

Doncaster’s goal saw Sunderland drop to eighth in the table, though they remain three points off the automatic promotion places.

Pressure is rising on Parkinson and his Black Cats side, but he insisted that there were positives to take from the performance.

The Black Cats boss was left frustrated with the defending for the equaliser, but said his side had enjoyed control of the contest.

Darren Moore’s side had improved significantly in the second half, enjoying far more pressure and territory.

Remi Matthews was rarely tested, though that was also the case for emergency loanee Joe Lumley in the Doncaster Rovers goal.

“It’s cruel," Parkinson said.

"It’s hard to take when you concede to the last kick of the game, to what really was their only chance. It was their one moment.

We tried to win the ball on the edge of the box and it’s come in, and how it’s ended up in the back of the net I don’t know because we had three defenders around their one player.

"It hurts when you concede late in the game, but I thought that first half was the best we’ve played for a long time. I thought we were excellent. Some of the football we played and some of the movement in the wide areas, I was very pleased.

"They came into it in the second half to a certain degree, which you would expect,” he added.

"They’ve beaten some good teams here, but I still felt we had enough control in the game, we just needed to go and get that second goal. It’s a game where we should be talking about three points, but we’re not.

"We’re disappointed with that, but I do take heart from a lot of the football we played because I thought it was a lot better and we looked a lot more threatening. I got the feeling that we would get a goal as the first half developed.

“The equaliser, the ball has just come to the corner of the box. We’ve tried to pinch it, and [Brad] Halliday has just turned it. The cross has come in, and just one clearance and we’re talking about three points. It’s a quiet dressing room, as you would imagine, but I’ve also got to take a lot of heart from the way we played. These beat Ipswich 4-1 and beat Lincoln, who are one of the teams up there, but I was confident coming into the game that the lads had looked good during the week in training, and I thought we took that into the game. But we’ve got to keep building on that and make sure we see games through, which usually we’ve been good at.

“They had a couple of shots from outside the box in the second half, but I never really felt under any pressure from them. I just felt comfortable, and that’s what makes it harder. If Remi had had to pull off save after save and they’ve hit the bar, then you’re thinking, ‘Well, we’re hanging on anyway’. But it certainly wasn’t that type of game.”

Parkinson paid tribute to Leadbitter for his stunning strike that was worthy of the three points.

“It's a shame because the late goal takes away the positives of it,” he said.

“We've been talking about key moments and players winning you games, Grant had produced a special one today.

“It was a great team move, starting from Remi and moving up the pitch.

“It's a calm set by Goochy and a fantastic strike from Grant.”

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