'Sunderland are a good side and they can make things difficult,' says QPR boss

Neil Critchley described Sunderland as ‘a good side’ after they beat his QPR side at Loftus Road, although he was left to rue a missed opportunity.

Sunderland won 3-0 although even Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray acknowledged that result was ‘harsh’ on QPR.

QPR boss Critchley felt similarly, and he said some key mistakes ended up costing his side more than anything.

“Sunderland are a good side and they can make things difficult but up until their second goal, we were on the front foot and playing forward.

“It wasn’t through a lack of desire and commitment from the players, but if we are conceding goals like we are then you are going to make things difficult for yourselves.”

One of those mistakes was Ilias Chair’s missed penalty in the second half. That would have levelled the scores had they scored, but Anthony Patterson made a brilliant save to deny him.

Within minutes, Jack Clarke had doubled the Sunderland lead and Critchley wasn’t happy with that either.

“I was pleased with the first 20 minutes,” he said. “I thought we started on the front foot, we played good football, controlled the game and we had one or two moments around the goal.

“They came back into it, it was even, and we pressed the self-destruct button once again – giving away a needless and cheap goal which means then we are chasing the game.

“After the break I thought we came out and took the game to them again. For 20 minutes of the second half we played with real energy, I thought the crowd got behind us, we were playing in the final third more, and obviously the penalty is a big turning point.

“If we score that, the game is different. They then score a second goal which we should have defended better, it goes through Sam [Field]’s legs and that’s the way things are going for us at the moment.”

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