Sunderland boss gives credit to Charlton keeper MacGillivray for denying them maximum points

Sunderland manager Alex Neil credited Charlton goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray for denying them maximum points at The Valley yesterday.

The Addicks stopped a run of five successive defeats as they drew 0-0 in SE7,

Charlton had conceded at least two goals in their last six matches but the result means they are unbeaten in 12 of their last 13 matches against Sunderland.

Neil said: “I think we deserved to win, everybody could see that. For the first 35-40 minutes we were completely dominant and had probably four or five really good opportunities to score and didn’t quite take them.

“We started the second half quite bright and then for about 20 minutes it became a little bit scrappy.

“We made some really aggressive substitutes at that point and the game went a little bit open and end to end. We again probably had two or three really good moments where we could’ve won. They had one, the lad Burstow got down the side and put one past the post.

“We created more chances today than we probably did in the last two or three matches and it’s frustrating – because we scored in ever single one of them.

“We’ve given ourselves a platform to try and go on and be successful by keeping better clean sheets and looking defensively solid, which we were for large parts.

“The performance, particularly in the first half, was as good as since I’ve been here.

“We weren’t as clinical as we have been before and the goalkeeper has had a good game. I don’t think it falls solely on them or us, it’s a combination of both.

“If you’d tell me we’d get into those areas as much as we did before the game then I’d have taken that, because I would’ve thought we would score at least two goals out of those opportunities.

“I’m a big believer if you take care of performances then points will come. Unfortunately today we didn’t get what we deserved.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD AND PAUL EDWARDS