Sunderland AFC manager David Moyes, said that his Black Cats side are ruing their missed opportunities, after their narrow 2-1 defeat to North East rival Middlesbrough.
Didn't deserve to be down
Many inside the Stadium of Light will have expected a much closer game ahead of kick-off, but it was far from it, with a brace Cristhian Stuani giving Aitor Karanka's side the lead going into the break.
Patrick van Aanholt managed to get one back after the break, but not enough to prevent a second consecutive league defeat in the Moyes era.
After the game, Moyes admitted to Sky Sports: "I don't think we deserve to be 2-0 down at half-time," but firmly believed "They scored a great goal, the boy [Stuani] had a great shot, and of course we could have closed things down quicker."
The Scotsman continued: "We were disappointed with the defending for their second but overall I don't think we deserved to go in 2-0 down," and conceded the fact "We had good attacking opportunities today but we didn't quite take the chances."
Down to the bare bones
It hasn't been the week that many Black Cats will have hoped for on Wearside, with the loss of Younes Kaboul and the seemingly imminent departure of Lamine Kone.
It got worse on Sunday afternoon with the loss of John O'Shea to injury, and Moyes admitted that his side is down to the bare bones but tried to look at the positives.
Moyes accepted in his post-match comments: "We were bare bones today with the team we had, particularly at centre-half, not helped by losing O'Shea."
The 53-year-old coach concluded: "We're working hard, everyone knows we're short, no more than us here, but we'll get the players."
Sunderland AFC will take on Shrewsbury Town in the English Football League Cup at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday, August 24 with kick-off at 7:45pm BST.