Régis Le Bris sends message to Sunderland dressing room in verdict on Blackburn Rovers draw

Régis Le Bris was satisfied with Sunderland's point at Blackburn Rovers but has told his players that they have to be more consistent within games.

The Black Cats were comfortably second best through the first half at Ewood Park and were perhaps fortunate to have been only one goal behind at the break. Sunderland went ahead within ten minutes of the second half thanks to goals from Chris Rigg and Wilson Isidor, missing some big chances to extend their advantage in the minutes that followed.

The contest then swung from end to end in a dramatic conclusion, Harry Leonard equalising before Eliezer Mayenda missed a late chance to seal the points when he was foiled after breaking through 1-v-1.

Le Bris did not feel there was a tactical issue in the first half and says it a lesson to his players about the standards they have to reach.

"It's not a bad result, to be fair," Le Bris said.

"We played against a strong team in a good dynamic. At the end of the game it's not a bad point, we can analyse the dynamic of the game but at the end it is a good point. Blackburn played very well in the first half but I was not surprised. It is not a coincidence where they are in the table, they were intense, quick and especially in small spaces. It was very difficult to recover the ball and to be fair, they could have scored more in the first half. But we knew this level of intensity was coming, it was no surprise. So it's a question of standards because it's a tough league and when you are inconsistent, you are punished.

"I don't know exactly the difference between the two halves but it was clear that in the first half the level of our team was not the one expected. We were probably at 60,70% of our level. It was clear at half time that this was not a tactical issue or anything like that, it was just a question of our level. If we wanted to be in this game, to be competitive, we had to raise our standards. We did it, which shows the potential we have. We have the ability to react but today we had the possibility to be more consistent across the game and in the end this was a positive for our impact, because even at the end it was very unstable with many counterattacks both ways, and they scored at the end.

"It is probably a question if experience and learning exactly what the high standards are. You can have a picture in your mind but you have to experience these situations. We showed the potential we have to play at that level but it is always about 100 minutes, and you have to manage this properly. In this league, the games are so tight and difficult to win, you have to be consistent across the game."

Sunderland are back in action when they travel to Stoke City on Sunday.