Sunderland 'shot themselves in the foot' admits Alex Neil, following MK Dons defeat

Alex Neil admits Sunderland 'shot themselves in the foot' and by giving the ball away and were punished by MK Dons, as his first home game in charge ended in defeat.

The Black Cats lost 2-1 at the Stadium of Light against play-off rivals MK, and for Sunderland it was their fourth defeat in five games, meaning they have now won just one of their last nine, and as a result they slipped out of the top six.

Sunderland were the architects of their own downfall against MK, giving the ball in midfield which allowed the visitors to score on the counter-attack twice in the second half.

Sunderland have collected one point from Neil's first two games in charge and he knows he will have to address the problems quickly if they are to finish in the play-offs - let alone win promotion via that route.

"My overwhelming emotion is frustration," he said following the game.

"The first half was probably even, because they started quite brightly but we grew into the game, and just before half-time we were the better team, so 50-50 overall.

"Then in the second half we were the better side and we penned them in.

"But we risked the ball in central areas, and we got counter-attacked on twice and lost the game off the back of it.

"That's the biggest frustration. Our defensive structure when we were attacking was disappointing for both goals.

"But equally, we gave the ball away cheaply under little or no pressure.

"In terms of structure, strategy, and tactics - all that stuff - we got the majority of that right.

"We just made some silly errors that have cost us the match.

"Once we got the equaliser in the second half, I felt confident that if anyone was going to win the game it would have been us but ultimately we just made a bad decision and