Michael Beale issues verdict on Sunderland defeat at Huddersfield Town and answers inconsistency question

Michael Beale rued Sunderland's set piece defending after falling to a costly defeat to Huddersfield Town on Wednesday night.

Beale admitted his side fell short in the first half, with Matty Pearson turning in the rebound from Jack Rudoni's free kick. The Black Cats struggled throughout the game to create real chances and test Lee Nicholls but Beale said they had their moments that they could have done more from.

"It was a wild second half after a quite average first half," Beale said.

"We conceded again from a set play away from home and that's not good enough. There's a bit of deja vu there, are we quite alive to them getting a shot off and then the second ball. Just before the half time whistle, we had two set piece situations and we weren't as alive and reactive. We knew what to expect here because Jon [Worthington] has got them going and got the crowd up. They were up and at it in the first half and our midfield wanted one too many touches on the ball, we had some issues with their energy in the first half.

"We tried to gamble more in the second half and it made for a really open game - we certainly had opportunities. Trai had a big chance, their keeper makes an incredible save after, Paddy gets down the side and crosses it - where were we?! Then a corner to the back post, they're big moments."

Sunderland have struggled to produce a dominant display over 90 minutes in recent weeks, but did enough against Middlesbrough and Plymouth to take something from the game regardless. Beale said that level of inconsistency within games was mainly because of the small difference in standard between the teams, and says his players have to be better in the key moments.

"On our best day, I think we can slightly better than the opposition but we're not going to blow anyone away, we don't score enough goals from the nine position to do that," Beale said.

"There's not much between the teams, the game goes in waves and when our tails are up, we have to take our chances. In a tight game, we need to be scoring from a set play and not conceding them. It's natural to come away from home when their crowd are up - you're going to have difficult moments in the game. It's a pretty standard set play we've conceded from, we opened up in the second half and had our moments. Then we have a bit of a disaster when Paddy has to come off and we play with ten, so it's a bad night for us."

Sunderland finished the night in tenth place but just one point behind the play-off places after Coventry City twice battled back to earn a 2-2 draw away at Plymouth Argyle.