Shrewsbury Town boss Steve Cotterill was 'lost for words' after watching Sunderland snatch a place in the FA Cup fourth round from his side in injury time. As the game went into added time, the League One Shrews were on the verge of causing an upset at the New Meadow after Matt Pennington had headed them in front in the 81st minute.
But substitute Ross Stewart levelled for the Black Cats in the 92nd minute, only for Luke O'Nien to complete the turnaround two minutes later and deny Shrewsbury even a replay on Wearside. "It is tough to take because after 90 minutes we're in the fourth round," said Cotterill, who spent a short spell as assistant manager to Howard Wilkinson at Sunderland two decades ago.
"I'm really lost for words at the moment but I'm really proud of the boys - it was an immense effort. The gameplan went exactly like we thought it would and the game went like we thought it would.
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"We spoke in the week about the changes we were going to make to try and zip things up a bit with 70 minutes on the clock. We just ran out of legs or luck at the death there.
"They've had to bring their big guns on and they've already started a few of their big guns. I think it was an incredible effort by our lads and we definitely don't deserve to be beaten.
"Like I said, at 90 minutes, we were in the fourth round. The boys were terrific today and I'm really, really, pleased with them. I can't speak highly enough of them.
"I'm just so disappointed for them. I just said to them that they have nothing to be down about.
"They gave their all against a team that are flying in the Championship. They're not down in the lower echelons struggling or anything like that. They're a really good team with some really good players and for 90 minutes, we thought we'd done it.
"Unfortunately there were four minutes of added-on time and I feel a bit speechless really."
Shrewsbury had hit the crossbar in the first half through Luke Leahy but, aside from the opening 20 minutes, Sunderland dominated throughout. The Black Cats will now go forward to this afternoon's fourth round draw which will take place just after 4pm, with Sunderland allotted ball number 28.
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