"Dominated" - Sunderland: Luke O'Nien issues strong response to Sheffield United defeat | OneFootball

The Sunderland defender believes the Black Cats were on the wrong end of the result at Bramall Lane on Friday night.

Sunderland defender Luke O'Nien believes the Black Cats "dominated" despite losing 1-0 away at Sheffield United on Friday night.

The Black Cats and the Blades played out a match that was littered with twists and turns at Bramall Lane but it was Chris Wilder's side that secured a big three points.

Sunderland had the chance to take the lead via the penalty spot on 30 minutes but Michael Cooper got down smartly to deny Patrick Roberts' attempt. The first half would come to a spectacular close, as both sides went down to 10 men in the final minutes.

Chris Mepham was shown a straight red card on 40 minutes before referee Gavin Ward brandished a second yellow card to Harry Souttar in added time. Both sides spurned chances to take the lead in the second half and then Tom Davies finally made the breakthrough for Blades with 83 minutes on the clock.

Defeat means Regis Le Bris' side have seen their 10-game unbeaten run come to an end, but has also left them winless in their last six games.

Luke O'Nien reaction to Sunderland's defeat at Sheffield United

Sunderland will feel they've been on the wrong end of a number of results over the course of their current winless run, and O'Nien believes their defeat at Bramall Lane was another one.

Reflecting on the events of the game via the club's X account, O'Nien said: "It's a hard one to swallow. We dominated, I thought a very good Sheffield United team, I thought we dominated from start to finish, and coming away with nothing I felt was unjust.

"But equally it's down to us to take our chances, and we take full responsibility, we've just got to turn these tight games into wins. I think there were very fine lines in this game, and I think we'll reference this game in terms of training. This one was a hard one to take for us, and our great fans as well that travelled.

"So I think these games, you use them as motivation. We'll reference it throughout the season in terms of training, we have this in the back of our mind how we've come to this place and put in a really, really good performance and. didn't get the three points.

"So, there are some positives in there, but a difficult one to obviously take. You know I put my hands up that I cost Mepps (Chris Mepham), our best player this season, losing him for a game which was my responsibility.

"But these mistakes will make me a better player, and these losses will make the team a better team as well. So we'll move forward as a team, I know that the fans will be right behind us, and we'll be ready to go next game.

"I think there's a really fine line between a good team and a really, really good team, and we're on that border. The best way to turn into a very, very good team is to keep working and keep learning from our mistakes, individually, personally today, and collectively, and keep putting in performances that those guys (Sunderland supporters) will be proud of.

"We've got to turn them into wins, and start building that momentum that we got at the start of the season, and I know we will."

Sunderland's recent goalscoring form will be of growing concern for Regis Le Bris

One of the main contributors to Sunderland's excellent start to the season has been the sharpness of their cutting-edge in attack, as the Black Cats were routinely seen scoring at least two goals in the majority of their games during the opening two months of the campaign.

However, that cutting edge has been blunted somewhat in recent games, with Le Bris' side registering just two shots on target in their last two outings vs Sheffield United and West Brom respectively, despite having plenty of efforts towards goal in those affairs.

In fact, Sunderland have only scored more than a single goal once in their last six games, which was a 2-2 draw with Coventry City. Aside from that game, the Black Cats have drawn 0-0 three times, drawn 1-1 and lost 1-0.

If the Wearsiders are to maintain their push for automatic promotion, they must find snap out of this poor spell in front of goal. The Championship is an unforgiving league, and Sunderland could quickly find themselves playing catch up rather than setting the pace like they had been.