Aji Alese says persistence paid off against Reading as Sunderland refused to settle for a point against the Royals. The Black Cats struggled to hit top gear at the Stadium of Light, lacking their usual sharpness, while Reading's determination to slow the game down and waste time at every opportunity also prevented the Wearsiders getting into their groove - particularly in the first half.
But Sunderland improved after half time and began to carve out chances, although they had to wait until five minutes from time before Patrick Roberts scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game. "Sometimes football is like that and you have games where you are not going to play your best or create the best chances," said Alese, who turned in another fine performance at left-back.
"In the first half I can't remember us creating anything really and the second half we came out. I remember Edouard's [Michut] chance and Pat [Roberts] had a few shots which went just wide.
