Sunderland's Dan Neil explains how early incident impacted his game in frustrating Huddersfield Town draw

Neil was once again playing in a holding midfield role and was given more responsibility as Tony Mowbray named an attacking side against The Terriers, with Patrick Roberts and Alex Pritchard operating in advanced central positions.

Yet the 21-year-old was hampered by an early booking which he received for a tackle on Huddersfield’s Brahima Diarra in the 14th minute.

“I think the role I was playing with Pritch and Pat ahead of us, I was that one who had to break the play up and put in tackles and win duels,” said Neil.

“That early yellow card did kill us a little bit, I felt like I couldn’t put myself about because I didn’t want to put us down to 10 men and leave the team kind of hanging.

“I think defensively it did cause me individually, and probably the team, because that’s my role to stop counter attacks, it probably did cause a few problems.”

A win would have moved Sunderland into the Championship play-off places, despite teams around them having games in hand.

And after Joe Gelhardt had given the hosts a first-half lead, it felt like a missed opportunity for Mowbray’s side, with Huddersfield’s Josh Koroma equalising just before the hour mark.

“Yeah definitely,” replied Neil when asked about a frustrating night. “I think we lacked a bit of cutting edge, we had a few decent chances but I don’t think it was enough to win the game.

“Give credit to Huddersfield I thought they were very good on the break, lots of athleticism in the team and they caused us a few problems especially on counter attacks.

“The positive is that we didn’t get beat, but obviously the negative is that we couldn’t quite get over the line and get them three points.”

Sunderland can still finish in the play-off places but will have to rely on other teams dropping points.

Mowbray’s side will now prepare for Sunday’s fixture against promotion rivals West Brom at The Hawthorns.