Ross rues early goal after Sunderland held by Oxford

Sunderland manager Jack Ross admitted his side had lapsed into some costly bad habits as they drew their opening game of the Sky Bet League One season with Oxford.

Lynden Gooch’s penalty salvaged a 1-1 draw after Oxford midfielder Tariqe Fosu had opened the scoring, but after drawing 19 of their 46 league matches last season, Ross was frustrated at another failure to claim maximum points on home soil.

Sunderland dominated possession for long spells at the Stadium of Light but squandered a series of promising positions with some poor balls into the box.

Ross said: “I think results-wise we can’t be satisfied with drawing at home because we know the consequences of doing that too often last season. We need to ensure we aim to win games. That was the aim but not the end result.

“It highlights the importance of not conceding soft goals in the early part of games because then it gives teams something to protect and it means we’ve got to push really hard and put a lot of energy into the game, which we did.

“We spent an awful lot of time in the final third. We had 34 crosses and we probably should have provided greater quality in that area and been more ruthless at both ends of the pitch.”

Oxford manager Karl Robinson was delighted with his players’ efforts as they claimed an opening-day point but was frustrated at two key refereeing decisions that went against his side.

Robinson felt Josh Ruffels had got a clear touch on the ball as he was penalised for bringing down Gooch in the area, and also that Rob Dickie’s first-half header should have stood instead of referee Peter Wright ruling it out for a foul on Sunderland goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin.

He said: “There were some crazy decisions, and I think the referee knows that I want to see him. Sunderland are a top, top team, but we’ve come here and looked reasonably comfortable apart from somebody else’s (the referee) performance.

“We don’t want to come away from here and be disappointed about the referee though. First and foremost, the most important thing is that my players showed that they really care about the football club.

“We picked up from where we left off last year, even without the players that have left. I think the people that follow us might have been questioning what we were going to be like without those players. If you could put them in this team, it would be a promotion team, but that’s what we’ve got to find.

“We’ve got to find that stardust, that little bit of glitter that can really explode with power and pace. That’s something we’ve got to find.”