What Dan Neil told Sunderland’s Pierre Ekwah before Burnley draw as ex-West Ham man makes first Cats start

Ekwah, 21, joined the Black Cats from West Ham in January but was making his first senior start for his new club at Turf Moor.

The Frenchman played 64 minutes against Burnley, before he was replaced by Edouard Michut, and lined up alongside Neil, who at 21 has become Sunderland’s experienced midfielder following a season-ending injury to captain Corry Evans.

When asked about Ekwah, Neil told the Echo: “Yeah brilliant. He’s dynamic, he’s really strong, he’s got a great left foot on him.

“He’s been brilliant in training the last few weeks and I said to him you are going to get your chance because he’s been brilliant in training.

“With the international boys being away, Ed playing on Tuesday and it being a quick turnaround for him, this was his chance and I think he took it. I thought he was brilliant.

“He was getting up and down the pitch, listened really well and did what we wanted him to do when we were pressing and things like that.

“I thought it was a brilliant starting debut in the league.”

Sunderland recorded just 30% possession against Burnley but produced another strong defensive display, like their 1-0 win at Norwich last month.

And, after losing 5-1 against Stoke at the Stadium of Light, Neil admits the side have at times been more comfortable playing against teams above them in the table.

“I think it’s tough when you are playing teams that are below you because we maybe feel we are a little bit better on the ball and they get to do what we did to Burnley, sit make it tough and make it frustrating for you,” Neil added.

“When we play the top teams we do the same thing and frustrate them and catch them on counter attacks.

“For everyone at the club it was a tough result (against Stoke) to take but I feel like we’ve bounced back really well and picked up two positive results.”

Sunderland now have seven games remaining this season as they prepare for Friday’s home fixture against Hull City.

Tony Mowbray’s side are still dealing with several injury setbacks, which may provide more opportunities for some of the club’s younger players, yet Neil is also determined to finish the season strongly.

“We do want to bed in young players and want to give them a taste, but we are still professionals at the end of the day and we want to finish as high as we possibly can,” he said. “Every single game we are going into it wanting to win.

“It is a bit of a free hit, the last few weeks our performance levels have probably dipped a little bit, definitely the results.

“We’ve come out of this international break and it’s a free hit, but like I said we’re all professionals and we want to finish as high as we possibly can in the league.

“We don’t want to finish the season with games that mean nothing. We want to be striving to finish as high as we can.”