Dan Neil accepts responsibility for 'daft mistake' during Watford vs Sunderland in Championship

Sunderland team captain Dan Neil has accepted responsibility for his costly mistake against Watford on Saturday.

The 22-year-old started in the middle under head coach Régis Le Bris as the Black Cats were defeated 2-1 at Vicarage Road in the league over the weekend in front of around 2,000 travelling supporters.

Watford took the lead in the first half through Festy Ebosele but after the break, Wilson Isidor netted an equaliser for Sunderland after turning home Patrick Roberts’ superb cross to level the scores with 48 minutes played.

With the game heading towards a draw, Dan Neil gave away a penalty, which Tom Dele-Bashiru scored. The goal was the winner on the day as the Black Cats succumbed to defeat away from home after last week’s win over Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light.

“I thought we started a little bit slow for the first 15-20, but then we made a slight adjustment tactically and we kind of figured it out a bit,” Neil said after the game against Watford had ended on Sunderland’s social media channels.

He continued: “I thought the last 10 minutes of the first half and the whole of the second half, we were really good and we were the better team.”

Reflecting on giving away the penalty, Neil added: “Obviously, just a daft mistake. A lack of concentration has cost us the game, but I think we can take a lot of positives from the second half and take them into Tuesday and bounce back”

Neil also said: “Obviously, we got the early goal and we were trying our best to get the second but like I said before, a bad decision in my own box has probably cost us that game. Like I said, we've got to take the positives from the second half and take them into Tuesday.

“There were positives from the game. Thankfully, it's a quick turnaround. So we'll still watch it back and see what we could have done better, especially in the first 10, 15, 20 minutes. Have a look at it and see what we can do better. Put this one to bed and hopefully go and take the three points on Tuesday night.”