Sunderland defender gives honest Middlesbrough assessment after Dan Neil red card and heavy defeat

Dan Ballard admits Sunderland didn’t manage the situation well enough after they were reduced to 10 men following Dan Neil’s red card against Middlesbrough.

Neil was dismissed on the stroke of half-time as he received a second yellow card for dissent when the game was still goalless. Second-half goals from Sam Greenwood, Matt Crooks, Isaiah Jones and Marcus Forss then gave the visitors a 4-0 win at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland had gone close to opening the scoring before the interval when Patrick Roberts’ low shot was saved by goalkeeper Seny Dieng. Tony Mowbray’s side couldn’t withstand the second-half pressure though, despite changing shape to play with a back three and wing-backs.

“I thought the first half was a really good game,” Ballard told Sunderland’s website after the match. “It was quite evenly balanced and I didn’t think they had many chances. I’d say we probably had the best chance of the game and it was a really good game of football. It was an enjoyable first half right up until the last kick and then obviously the referee sends Dan Neil off and the game changes.

“I think we could have managed the situation better definitely but it’s obviously tough trying to play 45 minutes with 10 men and towards the end you could see it took a lot out of us and we are extremely disappointed with the result.”

Sunderland have two weeks to prepare for a trip to Stoke, managed by former Black Cats boss Alex Neil, after the international break, while Ballard has been named in Northern Ireland’s squad for this month’s European qualifying matches against San Marino and Slovenia.

“We are frustrated and it’s probably going to hurt for a few days,” the defender added when reflecting on the Middlesbrough defeat. “The fans were great today and stayed right until the end. It’s disappointing we couldn’t give them a win but the circumstances made that difficult. We’ll put it right in the next game in a couple of weeks.”

Despite the result, Sunderland remain fourth in the Championship table with 19 points from 11 games.