Huddersfield Town boss Neil Warnock says Sunderland's Jack Clarke is one of the best players in the Championship - and praised his right-back for the way he handled him in last night's 1-1 draw on Wearside. The Black Cats and the Terriers shared the points, with Joe Gelhardt's first-half strike putting Sunderland ahead before it was cancelled out by Josh Koroma's deflected effort on the hour.
Clarke was a major threat for Sunderland down the left flank and Warnock is a big admirer of the winger, but he was pleased that his defender Matty Pearson had stood up to the test. "The full backs were fabulous," said former Middlesbrough boss Warnock.
"Matty Pearson had to do a job on when the best players in the league in Clarke - I love him, he's so positive in everything he does."
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Tony Mowbray's Sunderland should have had the game won by half-time but did not make the most of their chances, and in the second half Huddersfield put them under pressure and forced the equaliser with Warnock feeling his team could have gone on to win. He said: "We're disappointed not to take maximum points but Tony has got a good, young side and so you probably have to be happy with a point,"
"We just weren't clinical enough, we had chances in the second half. I said at half-time that I felt we could step up a yard and step it up.
"We did that and I can't ask anymore of the lads, they've given me everything. We acquitted ourselves really well, we tried to play on the foot foot when we could.
"We could have done more with our set pieces but when we lost Hoggy [Jonathan Hogg, to injury] I thought we could have a go rather than just sitting off and letting them beat us, and I thought that worked a treat. I was really pleased with how we did - I thought we got stronger as it went on.
"It's a young, exciting side here but we wanted to have a go. Even from goal kicks and things like that, we didn't want to let them play.
"To do that you need legs and we had that. We got done with a deflection at Swansea so it was nice get one ourselves tonight, we've had no luck at all since we got here."
The draw meant Sunderland moved up to eighth place in the table and cut the gap between themselves and the play-offs to a single point, however that could change this evening when several of their rivals are in action. They have played one more game than most of the teams competing with them for a top six spot, and two more than their next opponents West Bromwich Albion.
It was a better point for Huddersfield, who are now two points outside the relegation zone with Warnock continuing to lead his side towards safety when they had looked to be heading for the drop not so long ago.
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