Alex Neil says Sunderland could have hit double figures against Cambridge United in what he feels was the best performance since he took over on Wearside - no matter that it was against ten men. The Black Cats ended up winning 5-1, but were assisted by playing for more than 75 minutes with a man advantage after U's defender Lloyd Jones was sent off for denial of a goalscoring opportunity when he fouled Ross Stewart inside the penalty area.
Neil felt it was a clear penalty but agreed with Cambridge boss Mark Bonner that the red card was harsh, but from the moment that Stewart converted the spot-kick Sunderland did not look back. Elliot Embleton, Stewart again, Nathan Broadhead, and Danny Batth added further goals, with Paul Digby briefly pulling one back for the visitors to make it 2-1.
And the win lifted Sunderland up to fourth in the table, keeping them firmly on course for a play-off place with two games left to play. "From minute one, I thought we were great," said Neil.
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"We moved the ball really well, and we had a clear plan in terms of how we wanted to play the game and the lads carried it out magnificently well. We could have scored double figures, if I'm honest, with the amount of chances we had.
"There were numerous excellent performances across the pitch and a real highlight was our professionalism in the second half, in terms of not giving them any opportunities, starving them of the ball, don't risk it and just keep rotating it, the chances will come and we'll get more goals, which is exactly what we did. I'd probably say this was our best performance, and I know people will say it was against ten men but how often have we seen games against ten men where it becomes really difficult, and the ten men maybe get a bit of momentum?
"Today, from minute one, we literally took the game away from them."
Of the red card incident, he added: "I thought it was a penalty, but whether it was a sending off or not, it's up to the referee really. I don't think the rules are really clear for anyone.
"My understanding is you don't want double jeopardy and give a penalty and a sending off, but then it happens - and if it was against my team, I would naturally be upset. But I'm pretty certain there will be a referee listening who will say 'no, you're wrong, the rules are now this'.
"I thought it was a penalty, but I thought it was harsh that their lad got sent off as well as conceding the penalty."
Neil said Sunderland needed to 'throw caution to the wind' and take an aggressive approach to this game and try to score as many goals as possible. He said: "We played a 3-5-2 but we bumped the two wingbacks up and flooded their backline with a front four, which meant they were man-for-man.
"When you get down the sides with the centre-forwards, you can work outside the full-backs and get balls in the box. That was the gameplan but it is a risky strategy because if the ball turns over too much, their wingers are playing the wrong side of you and they can hurt you the other way.
"I thought we needed to throw caution to the wind in this game, we needed to be aggressive with our approach, because we needed to win the game and try to score as many goals as we could, and it worked really well."
Sunderland were without injury victim Dennis Cirkin, but Neil hopes the defender could return to play a part in the play-offs - assuming the Black Cats book one of those top six slots. They were also rocked by another injury blow when Carl Winchester limped off after only ten minutes.
"He's hurt his groin, that's all I can really tell you," he said of Winchester. "The extent of it, I'm not quite sure.
"What I will say about Winnie though is that he is a robust lad, he's not one of those who will come off if he thinks he can continue."
And of Cirkin he added: "We lost Dennis before today which is really frustrating and disappointing, so its tough because as I've said before, we do have specific gaps in the squad and if we lose those players it is going to highlight those deficiencies. Providing we extend the season, get into the play-offs, I certainly hope that Dennis will be back at some point."
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