Michael Beale's every word after Sunderland's derby defeat

A tough afternoon Michael?

Yeah a tough afternoon, I thought first-half for the most part we defended okay. In terms of in possession we weren’t tidy enough. We didn’t show enough quality to throw any punches at Newcastle really. We go in at half-time we talk about being bolder, we made a couple of changes to get people further up the pitch and get the back four higher, obviously we have the worst possible start to the second-half that’s clear for everyone to see. After that, I thought we actually started getting into some interesting areas. Pritch hits the bar and the goalkeeper makes a fantastic save down to his right. If we’d scored in that moment I think the fans would have done the rest for us. I thought the fans were fantastic in their backing of the team today. The two goals we concede second half- the third goal is really poor on our part as well. Let’s be honest there was a gap between the two teams when we arrived at the stadium today and at the end of the day, we’ve tried to close that gap over 90 minutes and we weren’t able to do that. My young team must really be honest with themselves. The staff, the players, everyone at the football club about today. Then I think we can improve and we’ll use it in our Championship form for the games we’ve got coming up. The big thing for us is not hiding away from the fact there is a gap.

It felt like you didn’t give it a go until the second-half, were you just not allowed to do that?

Two things, the resistance we had today was the biggest resistance this young group has had this season for sure. So, you have to put that part as well. A lot has been spoken about them, but they are a team that’s beaten PSG for four and Chelsea in the not so recent past. They’ve had experience and a level of football much higher than ours. We went out with the right intention. I think there was a little bit of a belief thing in our team which we spoke about at half-time. We shot ourself in the foot straight away. After that I was a lot happier with the second-half performance all round, but their quality, expertise and experience on the day. They were a clear winner on the day and it’s unfortunate for us because it’s not, in this derby or this game, how we want to feel. If we’re honest, I think this young group can make big jumps in the coming months.

Everyone accepts the gap, but it’s just a huge emotional occasion. How quickly can you get past that?

As I said, we’ve got to be honest and move forward. We’ve got 20 games in the Championship and no time to dwell. This doesn’t penalise us in the league, we’re in the play-off position which for a group as young as ours, it’s a really optimistic place to be. For the fans today it’s a horrible feeling, it’s a derby. In the local area it’s not nice. I hope this team can grow from a day like today and give the fans happier days moving forward. There’s 20 games to go in the Championship and we can be as optimistic as anyone about finishing in those play-off positions. That’s my sole focus now.

Do you think you need more experience to win a match like that?

If it was easy to do what we’re doing, everyone would be doing it. We’re giving young players a really opportunity to grow. That’s a big experience to grow, we had higher hopes from today’s game than the outcome for sure. I think one or two in our team are actually better than what they showed today. That’s fine, that’s feedback. We move forward. This window we’ll try to improve but in this vision of this football club which is to give young players an opportunity to come and perform and grow. As a young group, we need to pull that together. Listen, on a day like today it’s going to be spoken about and highlighted ultimately in the Championship that’s not been an issue for us this season. At the level we’re competing at it’s not been an issue, actually it’s been something to give great optimism to people. The club has spent four years in league one and come back out of it and got in the play-offs. We’re in a good position this year and I don’t want anyone to think that there’s anything other than positivity around our football club.