Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips has heaped praise on Sunderland for a spirited performance against Premier League high fliers Fulham. Marco Silva's side would run out 3-2 winners at the Stadium of Light, but Tony Mowbray's men didn't make life easy for the visitors.
Jack Clarke and Jewison Bennette scored for the hosts but they were unable to cancel out Harry Wilson, Layvin Kurzawa and Andereas Pereira's strikes. Phillips told the BBC post-match: I think it's every performance that Sunderland have here. They send the supporters home generally happy.
"The fans can't moan about this evening, they've come up against a Premier League side. You could see the respect that Fulham showed making the substitutions at half-time, ultimately they were the difference.
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"Sunderland were excellent, they created opportunities and they got themselves back in the game. The biggest thing is, you see them laying on the ground there on their knees because they believed they could get something out of the game.
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"They gave it everything. They're having a cracking season, lots of positives to take from this evening. They've only been marginally beaten by a Premier League side.
"Jack Clarke stepped up, Patrick Roberts was excellent, Diallo - you get the ball to those players and they will create opportunities. Diallo has one cleared off the line. He was running them ragged at this stage.
"The one he had cleared off the line, Fulham then go up the other end and score. It's a sucker punch. Dan Neil is unlucky there, they were really pressing hard Sunderland, creating opportunities, getting in the box, it's a great save [Rodak's to deny Roberts] it takes a deflection when you see it from another angle.
"They had really good opportunities so can count themselves unlucky."
Former Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer added: "I think both sides gave everything. Certainly Sunderland didn't let themselves down whatsoever, their performance was very good - yes - there were moments in the game where Fulham could have run away with the game a little bit more and made it easier for themselves.
"Sunderland dug deep. They scored some cracking goals tonight."
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