Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson has insisted that his side will win plenty of games this season if they continue to play like they did in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Shrewsbury Town.

Parkinson suffered his second defeat in his third match in charge of the Black Cats yesterday, thanks to Jason Cumming's goal midway through the first half.

The visitors responded well to going behind and dominated the rest of the game, but despite creating several scoring chances, they could not find an equaliser.

Sunderland remain eighth in the League One table, three points outside the play-offs, but have now lost two of their three matches under Parkinson - who replaced Jack Ross in charge at the Stadium of Light earlier this month.

However, Parkinson has admitted that he couldn't have asked for more from his team and has insisted that Sunderland will win a lot of games in League One this if they continue to play like they did against the Shrews.

“We have totally dominated the game and the one attempt from them has resulted in a goal,” Parkinson told the club's official website.

“We have hit the bar and post three times; we have had balls flash across the six-yard box and had some great chances to not just draw the game but win it.

“In terms of the way we wanted to set out I couldn’t have asked for anymore but as everyone knows it’s all about sticking the ball in the back of the net.

“We have completely dominated the game – if we keep playing like that then we are going to win a hell of a lot of games at this level.”

Sunderland will be hoping to return to winning ways against Oxford United in their next game in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

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The Verdict

Sunderland are a very good side and they've got some talented attacking players. With that quality in their squad, they're pretty much guaranteed to create scoring chances, but they have to be more clinical.

League One is a competitive division and you will get punished if you fail to take your chances - and that was the case for Sunderland against Shrewsbury.

With that said, I can understand what Parkinson is saying here. His side created more than enough chances to win the game and on another day, they easily could have scored three or four.

He's a good manager and he knows what it takes to achieve success at this level, so even though he's lost two of his first three matches in charge, I think he'll turn out to be a good appointment for Sunderland.