Captain Neil post match reaction that calm every fan’s nerves

Dan Neil Confident Sunderland Will Bounce Back After Oxford Defeat Ahead of Play-Offs

Sunderland midfielder and captain Dan Neil has backed his side to respond strongly in the play-offs after a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium.

The Black Cats were comfortably beaten by an Oxford side who secured their Championship status for next season with the victory. It was a frustrating afternoon for Sunderland, who struggled to create clear-cut chances despite fielding a starting XI that is expected to closely resemble the line-up for the upcoming play-off semi-finals.

Speaking after the game, Neil acknowledged that the performance wasn’t up to standard but said he remains confident his team will rise to the challenge in the crucial weeks ahead.

“Things were said in the dressing room and I think that’s good,” Neil revealed. “We don’t have long left until the play-offs, so everyone laid it out on the line in there and I think that’s a good thing. I’m not worried about the next few weeks in the slightest.”

Despite a run of four straight defeats, Neil believes the team’s quality and spirit remain intact. Sunderland have secured a fourth-place finish in League One and will face one of their promotion rivals in the semi-finals next month.

“We haven’t become a bad team overnight,” Neil continued. “We’ve comfortably finished fourth and are only disappointed we didn’t push the top two harder that shows how good we’ve been this season. We know we can beat anyone in this league on our day. We’ve turned up in the big games and I’ve no doubt we’ll turn up for the biggest games of the season and of our careers so far.”

Neil also drew attention to Oxford’s spirited performance, using their achievement as motivation for Sunderland’s own play-off campaign.

“You’ve seen how much it meant to Oxford today,” he said. “As a team, we’ve got to look at how they reacted to this game  winning it, achieving their ambitions. Ours is to get promoted and we still have a massive chance to do it. They’ve turned up in their biggest game of the season, and we have to take motivation from that, because ours is coming in two weeks.”

There was some discontent among Sunderland’s travelling supporters at full-time, with frustrations boiling over after a difficult end to the regular season. However, Neil urged unity between players and fans heading into the final push for promotion.

“There’s always going to be frustration,” Neil admitted. “It’s all natural. We understand that the fans are frustrated about the last few weeks. But we’ve got the biggest games of the season coming up very soon and we need everyone to be behind each other.

“We just spoke about it in the dressing room  how the fans have travelled everywhere with us this season and been through everything with us. We know they’ll be with us for one last push. We’re going to do everything we possibly can in the play-offs.”

Sunderland will now turn their attention to preparing for the play-offs, where promotion to the Championship remains firmly within reach despite a stuttering end to the regular campaign.