00:00 Sunderland weathered several storms throughout their championship encounter,
00:06 with Middlesbrough in their last outing to come away with a point on Teesside.
00:11 Whilst the real weather continues to play havoc,
00:14 head coach Michael Beale spoke on whether the point at Borough was a good one in the context of the day.
00:21 If you win your home games, it's a good point away from home,
00:25 but actually we have to go away from home and win more than we have won,
00:28 so there's always a frustration. We didn't go to Middlesbrough looking for a point.
00:32 I think we showed that in the first half for whatever reason,
00:35 and we spoke about in-house some of the reasons, but it remained there.
00:40 We didn't start the second half well.
00:42 They started the second half and started winning the draws,
00:45 and they scored off a deflection that falls for their guys.
00:47 It's a great finish, but obviously on our part it's not something we're pleased with.
00:51 Our reaction was good.
00:53 If you go away to Middlesbrough and you only give up two shots on target,
00:57 and you're a goal, you're certainly disappointed if you didn't get something from the game.
01:00 So I think that's it.
01:01 As much as they had a 30-minute period in the second half where they were stronger than us,
01:05 it didn't lead to Pat Owen to make big saves.
01:08 But certainly when we recover the ball, we have to play a bit quicker,
01:13 we have to make less errors, that's clear.
01:15 And when we get up the pitch, so in the last 10 minutes,
01:18 I think we had two or three opportunities where if people really gamble and run through the goal,
01:23 we're winning that game.
01:24 With such a tight race for the playoffs, Beale also spoke on every match now having an extra edge to it,
01:30 with points being so important.
01:32 Yeah, I think the games are massive.
01:34 You can't call the league.
01:36 Last week there were some results that you wouldn't have been able to call before it.
01:39 This weekend's the same.
01:41 All we can do is do our job and try and get as many points as possible and take one game at a time.
01:47 Plymouth will give us a different challenge to Huddersfield and Birmingham for sure.
01:50 Huddersfield may have a new manager by then, you know,
01:54 Birmingham have had a new manager, so we're having to look and see what these teams are doing.
01:58 Plymouth have only had a new manager the last five or six games,
02:01 so it's an intriguing league.
02:04 And the most important thing for us is that we put the maximum effort and focus into every game.
02:11 Finally, Beale gave praise to his squad and spoke about his enjoyment in working at Sunderland so far.
02:18 We have a really vibrant young group with a lot of ambition.
02:23 So, you know, there's a lot of excitement, there's a lot of positivity in this building.
02:28 You know, we think we're a young team, we come in, a lot of these players have got high hopes for the future.
02:33 To manage and get them to know the staff has been fantastic, I have to say.
02:38 I think we have the stadium which sells the most seats in the league,
02:44 we have the biggest away football, so every time we play it's a special day.
02:47 And I think that's what you put across to this young group.
02:50 But I can't get over really, in words, enough to people that when you come in a building,
02:55 you've got 25 young players that have got a burning ambition for the future.
03:00 That's such a positive environment to walk into every day.
03:03 - Very nice.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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