Martin O'Neill was happy to settle for a share of the spoils at Swansea and believes there is even more to come from Steven Fletcher.
Black Cats boss delighted to see Fletcher open his account
Martin O'Neill was happy to settle for a share of the spoils at Swansea and believes there is even more to come from Steven Fletcher.
The Sunderland boss saw his £12million signing from Wolves net his first two goals for the club on Saturday, but saw the hosts hit back on each occasion.
O'Neill could have been forgiven for demanding more from his side at the final whistle, especially as Swansea ended the game with 10 men following Chico's dismissal, but he accepts that the Liberty Stadium is a difficult place to go.
"Beforehand if you had given me the point, I probably would have taken it," he told
Sky Sports.
"Swansea were in fine form, but we were doing well ourselves. The way the game panned out, I suppose I will accept it in the end.
"That said, I was hoping we might exert a little more pressure on them when they were down to 10 men, but they played very well with 11 or 10. I think we can learn lessons from Swansea's performance."
Handful
On a man drafted in to provide more of a threat in the final third, O'Neill added: "I was delighted with Steven Fletcher to score twice for us. It's a brilliant start to his Sunderland career and the crowd have taken to him. When he's fit, he'll be a real handful."
Fletcher and fellow summer signing Adam Johnson were handed their Premier League debuts in South Wales, but deadline day arrival Danny Rose will be held back until after the international break.
"Danny actually signed in time, but it's asking a lot to throw a young lad in that hasn't played for a little while for Tottenham Hotspur," said O'Neill.
"He will play now. He will go to the (England) U21s and he might get some game time. When he comes back, hopefully he will get into the run of things.
"It gave him an opportunity to watch us today and see how we performed."
