Sunderland midfielder George Dobson has admitted that the team must respond after their 2-0 defeat to Lincoln City at the weekend.

The Black Cats suffered their second defeat of the season at Sincil Bank on Saturday afternoon and produced a disappointing performance, increasing the pressure on manager Jack Ross.

Dobson has been speaking to the media ahead of the EFL Trophy clash with Grimsby Town tomorrow and has admitted that although he didn't play in the game, the other players have insisted that there performance was not good enough.

The midfielder went on to say that the team failed to get the basics right against Lincoln and insisted that the players must work hard to ensure that they do not perform like that again.

"It’s difficult to say too much because I wasn’t on the pitch. The boys have said that kind of performance can’t be repeated. We must do the basics right and make sure that kind of display doesn’t happen again," Dobson told the club's media.

Dobson has been an important player for Sunderland this season and has made eleven appearances for the Black Cats in all competitions, although many of his outings have come from the substitutes bench.

The 21-year-old scored in the 3-1 win over Burnley in the Carabao Cup in August and will be hoping to get another opportunity in the side against Grimsby tomorrow night.

The Verdict

To be fair to Dobson, even though he didn't play in the game, I think he's spot on here. It was a poor performance from Sunderland and Lincoln thoroughly deserved the victory.

I'm sure the players that were involved will be really disappointed with their performance and they may feel like they've let the fans and their manager down.

The players simply weren't good enough and didn't get the basics right. They've got to make sure that they approach their next league game against Wycombe Wanderers with the right mentality and bounce back with a good result.

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