Opposition view: Johnson laments lack of quality and difficult pitch after stalemate with 'direct' Cobblers

Sunderland manager Lee Johnson was frustrated by his side's 'lack of quality' and the difficult nature of the PTS pitch following their goalless draw with Northampton on Saturday.

Charlie Wyke headed an early chance wide and also poked over in the second-half but otherwise Sunderland, playing their first game in over two weeks due to COVID, were unable to create clear-cut chances.

"Obviously, with the way they play, it's very direct and the pitch is conducive to a direct game and not a footballing game, and there were also no ballboys so the ball was out of play a lot," said Johnson.

"It's those little things and we knew the ball wouldn't be in play anywhere near as much as we needed it to be to build a rhythm, but when we did have those good moments, particularly down the flanks in the first-half, we could have produced a bit more quality.

"The pitch plays into their hands but I don't want to discredit the opposition because we didn't do enough to win the game.

"I can only really remember Charlie's header early on and (Aiden) McGeady's delivery for (Josh) Scowen at the far post in the first half and Charlie should also have scored in the second half when he's three or four yards from goal.

"Apart from that, there wasn't an awful lot. They condensed the pitch and play very direct and it's important to score the first goal because it forces them to come out, but we weren't able.

"It's hard to tell if the break had any impact but there's no excuses in terms of our preparation. I don't think it was about endeavour or a will to win, we just lacked a little bit of quality in key moments and that's a little bit of a repeat from the season.

"We looked solid and that's about the best I can say. We showed physical guts but not enough technical quality."