TRAI HUME acknowledges that Sunderland is suffering greatly as a result of their incapacity to stop set-pieces; the Black Cats’ most recent vital goal came from a corner or a free kick on Wednesday against Huddersfield Town.
As the Terriers executed a brief free-kick routine at John Smith’s Stadium, Sunderland’s defenders were unaware of the threat. Anthony Patterson was only able to deflect Jack Rudoni’s shot into Matty Pearson’s path, who scored from close range.
Marcus Forss’ volley from a free kick cost the Black Cats in their previous away game against Middlesbrough, while Conor Chaplin’s unchallenged header of the winning goal in January also proved to be a costly free kick.
“It’s a tough one to take,” said Hume, in the wake of the Huddersfield defeat, which saw Sunderland drop to tenth in the table. “I thought in the first half, as a team, we weren’t good enough, and then we conceded another sloppy goal from a set-play.
“We need to start working on that a bit better, and more closely. We’ve been doing that, but it still seems to keep on happening.”
Sunderland tried to get back into the match in the second half, but despite controlling the last few minutes, they were unable to equalize.
Though Hume had one of their finest chances, the Northern Ireland international could only poke in a shot that Lee Nicholls was able to deflect around the post.
“That chance at the end, by the time I got there, I was knackered,” admitted the full-back. “I’ve run the whole way from our box to their box. I didn’t think the keeper was that close or I probably would have dinked it. I tried to place it, and he just touched it.”
The defeat leaves Sunderland a point adrift of the play-off places ahead of Saturday’s trip to St Andrew’s to take on a Birmingham City side led by former Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray.
“It’s still tight,” said Hume. “There are still games to play, and we have a lot of teams to play. If we can keep on trying to get points as much as we can, and get points off the teams that are close to us, then that’s what we’ll try to do.”