Régis Le Bris explains the half-time tweak that was key to Sunderland's win at Coventry City

Régis Le Bris praised his Sunderland players for their defensive endeavour after they sealed a narrow win in the first leg of their play-off semi final against Coventry City.

Eliezer Mayenda’s late winner gave the Black Cats a one-goal advantage after Jack Rudoni had cancelled out Wilson Isidor’s goal. Sunderland had to absorb a lot of pressure throughout the game but defended their box superbly, yielding few chances despite Coventry’s dominance of territory and possession.

Le Bris admitted that he had been uncomfortable in the first half with Coventry’s dominance down their right flank but believed his half-time tweaks proved key.

“We did really well this season and of course, the last period was a little bit different but it was our plan to refresh our squad to create the condition to have the full squad available,” Le Bris said.

“You saw how important it was today, the energy and the commitment was there. You need this in play-off football.

“I was not really comfortable in the first half, they overloaded their right side and we were outnumbered. I think it was a little bit tough for us. We fixed the problem during the half-time tweak so even if we conceded crosses and throw ins in the second half, the balls we were recovering were different. They were better for us and we felt it was possible to create the link to counter attack. This was our game plan because we knew have those threats with our forwards. They can manage big spaces and they showed that it was possible.

“It's tough to create this mindset to defend the box to be fair but it's a really strong quality of this team,” Le Bris added.

“I was surprised early in the season to see this behaviour because they want to defend their box, their goalkeeper and their goal. They stick together all the time. Even when it's tough you can feel this energy. In this period it's more about mindset than tactics and technical qualities. For sure, it helps. The mindset is so important.

"We [have been] talking a lot about complacency, consistency, discipline, because young players before making mistakes can just be driven by the dynamic of the game, the score. Now the game is finished so I was really impressed again today.

"I was impressed by the level of maturity today. It was tough, it wasn't an easy game but they stayed connected and grounded in out principles. This was the main principle of our success today."

Your next Sunderland read: I just watched Sunderland win at Coventry City - Régis Le Bris got this exactly right