O'Neill: 'Liverpool deserved equaliser'

Martin O'Neill praised the efforts of his side as they secured a third draw from three Premier League matches this season against Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool.

The Black Cats took a 29th minute lead when Steven Fletcher converted from close-range following a Craig Gardner cross.

Luis Suarez rescued a point for the Merseyside outfit 19 minutes from time when he buried at the second attempt from inside the six yard box.

Speaking afterwords to safc.com O'Neill was pleased with his side:

"It was a terrific effort considering we had a number of members of the squad who are still not properly fit - as the weeks go on we`ll get stronger," said O'Neill.

"Gardner was great today and [Jack] Colback was also outstanding - there were a number of very good performances."

O'Neill did however concede that his side were slightly sloppy in the second half and allowed Liverpool a foothold in the game:

"We gave the ball away a little bit in the second half and I think that is something we must improve on.

"When we`re under pressure in games we need to be able to take the sting out of matches.'

Sunderland are back on the road next Saturday as they head to the Boleyn Ground to face West Ham United.

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