The telling dressing room reaction that encouraged Régis Le Bris after Sunderland draw
Sunderland were held to a 0-0 draw by Preston North End on Wednesday night
Régis Le Bris says the reaction of his Sunderland players to the 0-0 draw with Preston North End shows how far they have come in recent months.
Le Bris said it was a disappointed dressing room after a laboured performance at Deepdale, in which the Black Cats were fortunate not to fall behind in the first half. They improved considerably in the second but struggled to create chances in a game low on quality. The Sunderland head coach says he sees a dressing room determined to improve quickly.
“Now I think the culture and the standards they have is bigger,” Le Bris.
“They are not happy in the dressing room right now so that's good for me. They know they can play much better. They protected the goal and won a point but in the future I don't have to push them, they will do it by themselves. That's good for me.”
Goalkeeper Simon Moore said the dressing room was ‘flat’ after the game but said it was important not to overlook the potential importance of the result itself.
"I think it shows how far we've come as a group,” Moore said.
“We've gone in there [the dressing room] and it's a bit flat, really. We're top of the league, there's results gone our way but it goes to show how hungry these boys are that they want a lot more. From my point of view with my experience, any point away from home in the Championship is a good one and come the end of the season, you can look back and realise how just important it was. We'll analyse it, there's definitely things we can do better but we've got to be happy with where we're at and obviously we've got a massive game against Coventry [on Saturday].”
Leeds United’s defeat to Millwall on Wednesday night means the Black Cats sit two points clear of Sheffield United at the top of the table, and four ahead of Daniel Farke’s side in third.