Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil didn't feel there was a gulf in quality in the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town despite the hosts taking all three points at Portman Road.

Michael Beale's side took the lead through yet another moment of magic from Jack Clarke before Kayden Jackson capitalised on a moment of good fortune to level the scores just before the halfway mark.

The Tractorboys turned the screw in the second-half and came away with all three points thanks to a bullet header from Conor Chaplin, from a Leif Davis free-kick. The Black Cats missed a number of golden opportunities to come away from the tie with at least a point, Adil Aouchiche involved in both of those opportunities but unable to make the most of them.

"I didn’t feel a gulf in quality even though they are second in the league," said Neil post-match. "We know they are a good team and a well-coached team but I thought we gave just as good as we got for the majority of the game.

"I think it comes down to lack of concentration sometimes. I think the first goal is a bit of a fluke, it’s come off Pierre’s toe and fell to the boy in the box. The second goal Conor Chaplin is scoring a header and he’s one of the smallest players on the pitch. We need to look at ourselves for that.

"I think there were times in the game where there were sloppy passes, I don’t know how many times the ball got played out of play just unnecessarily. It’s just those lapses in concentration and I said that after the Bristol game when we got beat. There was that 10 minutes of madness, whereas today I feel it was spread out across the game. It’s something that we need to look at and need to fix pretty quick."