Phil Parkinson reveals how Lynden Gooch reacted to not being in the Sunderland team

Gooch’s wonderful solo goal settled the contest against Oxford United, a week after he had again overcome the disappointment of missing out on the side by playing his part in the build-up to a key equaliser against Bristol Rovers.

Parkinson said it had been ‘very hard’ not to pick the 24-year-old, but was elated with the response.

“I don't think there'll be many better goals than that scored this weekend,” Parkinson said.

“Goochy has trained really well this week, really, really well.

“It was very hard for me not to put him in the team. I just wanted to get the balance of the side right.

“He was disappointed but he took it the right way and there's going to be other players who get left out the team in this long season we've got ahead of us.

“You've got to accept the decision and let your football do the talking. Lynden did that, and it wasn't just the goal.

“Alongside Charlie and Josh Scowen, they just gave us a great lift,” he added.

“I was pleased for Charlie when he got on, he was excellent, won every header, held the ball up and ran the channels.

“They gave us that lift at the right time.”

Parkinson was pleased with a ‘professional performance’ from his team.

The Black Cats had struggled to create many openings in a first half that was low on quality, but they dominated the second period and never looked back after Luke O’Nien gave them the lead.

"The first half was a bit scrappy, but the conditions were blustery and that's the nature of an open, three-sided ground,” Parkinson said.

“I thought we did alright but improved so much in the second period and dominated it, really.

“It was a very professional performance from us.

“Everybody knows this is a difficult place to come against a side who were right up there with us last season, and to come away with a 2-0 victory is a great tonic for us."

The Black Cats boss also had special praise for his back three, who gave few chances away to an Oxford United side that had changed shape in the build up and gone with two strikers up front.“Bailey [Wright] was excellent today,” Parkinson said.

“All the back three were very good. Oxford surprised us a bit, they probably looked at the conditions and decided to be a bit more direct than they normally do.

“They played the diamond and tried to get into the strikers. I thought we stood strong as a team but the back three won a lot of important headers and second balls.

“It doesn't matter what division you play in, but especially in this division, the goalkeepers are going to kick a lot of balls out of the hand and you've got to win them.

“That side of it we did very well today.”