Ross Stewart's goal on the stroke of half-time changed the 'whole psychology' of the second half at the bet365 Stadium, according to Stoke City boss Michael O'Neill. Stewart fired Sunderland ahead against Potters two minutes into injury-time at the end of the first period with a goal that came completely against the run of play after the hosts had dominated the opening 45 minutes.
But with the Black Cats able to readjust at half-time, and with a lead to protect, the second half was a different matter as Sunderland were able to restrict Stoke to a bare minimum of chances and instead carry a greater threat themselves. O'Neill was unhappy with the goal from his side's point of view, saying they should have dealt with one-time Stoke loanee Jack Clarke's pass to release Stewart, and then goalkeeper Joe Bursik should have been able to stop the striker's shot.
"We lose the ball in their left-back area and then Jack Clarke comes in and plays a long ball, which we should be able to deal with and then it's not a strike that should end in the back of the net," said O'Neill. "It changes the whole psychology of the second half and everything.
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"We have to come back out having put ourselves in a difficult position. Second half the nature of the game you could see the frustration in our play.
"It was stop-start, a lot of free-kicks, always suits the team that's ahead in the game. We always emphasise that the ball needs to be in play and we allowed Sunderland to sit back and they did it well and still had a bit of threat from the front two.
"They just had to knock it longer and try to cause us problems. We had one or two opportunities in the second half we could have done better with but saying that it was one of those days we made it difficult for ourselves after a good first half performance."
Only one team - Middlesbrough - has conceded more goals than the eight that Stoke have leaked so far, and O'Neill admits that some of those goals have been poor ones from a defensive point of view. But he refused to heap all the blame on Bursik for Stewart's goal, insisting that they should have dealt with the situation better as a team.
"He'll get loads of support in here," O'Neill said of Bursik. "We've conceded some poor goals at the start of the season and that's hurt us.
"We have to look at how that's happened as a team, not just the goalkeeper. The goals as a whole we've conceded, the nature of the goals, the timing of the goals as well has hurt us."
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