Jack Ross feels Sunderland hit top form in three-goal first half

Posted Wednesday, November 28, 2018 by PA

Jack Ross feels the belief in the Sunderland camp will have grown even stronger after surviving a scare in a 4-2 victory over League One promotion rivals Barnsley.

Sunderland cruised into a three-goal lead when Aiden McGeady’s penalty in the 19th minute was followed by Josh Maja’s fine finish less than a minute later before Lynden Gooch added a third in the 32nd minute.

Barnsley battled back with two goals from Kieffer Moore, one in each half, to set up a nervy finish for the hosts, but Sunderland managed to seal the victory when Luke O’Nien scored with seven minutes remaining.

Sunderland have now gone 14 matches undefeated and stay second, four points behind leaders Portsmouth who they are due to face on the weekend before Christmas.

Ross said: “It was a good match, stating the obvious, against a good team. A team I would expect to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season, they showed their strength tonight and we showed how good we are in spells.

“It was similar when we played Peterborough here earlier in the season – under the lights has a special feel here. This was a test, to come through it again and it strengthens the belief we have. They have enormous belief.

“I don’t differentiate between the wins. I get as much satisfaction from any of the wins. What I do recognise is the calibre of opposition, they proved that tonight. They have good individuals.

“I know the belief that grows when you win games like this. We keep going as a team and that opening 30-35 minutes we were as good as we have been in terms of putting it together.”

Barnsley boss Daniel Stendel was aggrieved by referee Andrew Madley’s decision to award a penalty when Ethan Pinnock went to ground as McGeady drove at him.

The Tykes boss, though, admitted that was not the only reason for the defeat.

He said: “In the first 35 minutes we were not here today, after that we played very well. We played so much better but it was 3-0 at that time.

“I watched the penalty in a video clip, you can see it is not a penalty. He is 10 metres behind it so surely he could see it was not a penalty. It was not the right decision.

“That was one goal though. The other goals were our fault. Sometimes not all decisions are right. At 2-0 we might have had more chance to win it.

“This is a big club here at this stadium, maybe players from League One were a little too impressed in first 35 minutes. We can play so much better.

“We showed that in the second half. When you want to win at Sunderland you have to play two good halves. Sunderland are not five points better than us.”