Sunderland winger Patrick Roberts relayed the importance of the remaining games in the season in the aftermath of their 3-0 loss to Coventry City. Haji Wright’s hat-trick at the CBS Arena condemned the Black Cats to defeat in the final game before the March international break.
Reflecting on the game, Roberts said: “It’s at that part of the season where it’s crucial where we stay with that momentum and a rhythm. Here we lacked an awful lot. To come here we knew it would be a tough place anyway. To give them two goals like that is unacceptable. From a player's perspective it’s not good enough.
“We’ve got to kind of regroup and take this break as a positive. And there’s been a lot of games, we’ve picked up some good results, we know overall it’s been quite disappointing against our standards and expectations. The fans came and we put on a performance like that and it’s not good enough, we know that.
“We have to go into these two weeks and pick ourselves back up. And remember there’s still a hell of a lot of games to play. We can’t be naive to that and go into the last few games of the season and pick up a good rhythm and momentum. We have to take this game as one of those games you can learn from. And don’t forget it and try to put things right.
“I’ve had some tough games in my career, personally as well. And a few of these lads have probably had theirs. It’s tough to take at the moment and I think we all appreciate that and we know the fans are frustrated and we are in ourselves. The manager is frustrated too. It’s part of football. You go into training every day and you give your all and you go into a game and try and give the best you can. This wasn’t good enough and we know that. Look, we will have to go over it at the break which has probably come at a good time. We can regroup like I said and go into the last few games picking up momentum and we can look at this game and think ‘that was the one that kicked us on throughout the rest of the season’.”
The players let down the travelling fans and they have to give their all to give those supporters some cheer and Roberts concluded: “It’s part and parcel of football, the fans are there for life. Players obviously come and go, but we understand that the emotion comes into it and we appreciate that.
“I will bring my experience and time to we will knuckle down. The fans will stick with us, they are frustrated and over the season they have been with us so we will take this game and look to learn from it and not forget about it to help us push on in a crucial few weeks.”
