Northern Ireland defender Trai Hume believes Sunderland need to be more clinical in front of goal following their 2-0 Premier League defeat to Burnley at the weekend.
He told the Sunderland Echo: “In the first half we have two good chances. In the Premier League you need to take those chances and if you don't you'll get punished.
“Remember we played West Ham last week... we had three chances and we scored three goals. We were ruthless against West Ham. Today they (Burnley) have two chances and they score two goals and we have our chances and we don't score them.”
With the crucial opening World Cup qualifier less than two weeks away, Hume’s Black Cats and Northern Ireland team-mate Daniel Ballard had the misfortune to pick up a groin strain just eight minutes into the contest at Turf Moor.
“It's one of those things where you don't want to see anyone get injured,” added the former Linfield defender. “It's not ideal. You don't want players getting injured. It's something we'll just have to deal with, and focus on going forward.”
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Callum Marshall was an unused substitute as West Ham United fell to a second consecutive defeat with a 5-1 home loss to Chelsea.
Twenty-one-year old Justin Devenny was given his first Premier League start of the season by Crystal Palace who were held to a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park by last season’s surprise package Nottingham Forest.
Conor Bradley, who has yet to feature this season due to a minor injury, could be in contention for a place in the Liverpool squad who travel to Newcastle United this evening (Monday).
In the Championship Ethan Galbraith collected his third successive man-of-the-match award as he provided an assist for Swansea City’s equaliser in their 1-1 home draw with Watford.
Issac Price also continued his excellent start to the new campaign with an assist for West Brom’s goal in the 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns against Portsmouth, meaning he has now three goals and two assists in his opening four games this season.
Also in the Championship there were starts for Ali McCann (Preston North End), Brodie Spencer (Oxford United) and Southampton midfielder Shea Charles, while Paul Smyth and Terry Devlin came on as substitutes for QPR and Portsmouth respectively.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Luke Southwood kept his second clean sheet of the new season in Bristol Rovers’ 1-0 win at home to Cambridge United, while Bailey Peacock-Farrell was in the Blackpool side that suffered a fourth league defeat in five games after going down by a single goal at Plymouth Argyle.
After being substituted on his debut for Nottingham Forest U18s last week, Kalum Thompson returned to the side at the weekend, scoring both goals in a 2-0 win at Plymouth Argyle.
Attacking midfielder Ceadach O’Neill also hit a brace as Arsenal ran out 3-2 winners in a U18 Premier League encounter against Southampton who had former Ballymena United striker Luke Hawe in their starting line-up.
There was a debut for ex-Glenavon starlet Christopher Atherton who was used off the bench in Chelsea U18s' 4-2 success away to Crystal Palace.
Finally, 17-year-old Braiden Graham was on the scoresheet for the third time this season as Everton suffered a 4-3 home defeat in their U21 Premier League fixture with Fulham.
