Why Bellingham doesn't need to apologise to Sunderland team-mates for QPR red card

Defender Luke O’Nien hailed Sunderland’s defensive structure following their 0-0 draw at QPR on Saturday. Régis Le Bris’ side registered their eighth clean sheet in 13 games and took a point back to Wearside despite having Jobe Bellingham sent off for a dangerous tackle.

The dismissal means Bellingham will be suspended for three matches, but speaking to safc.com, O’Nien gave his thoughts on the game.

“We’re disappointed not to come away with three points, but under the circumstances and the way things unfolded going down to 10 it was a long time left, it’s an important point and they all add up over the course of a season,” he said. “I was really proud of the lads for digging deep there and it will be an important point at the end of the season.

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“We have been very solid. Credit must start with Ally [Alessandro Barcherini] the goalie coach. Simon [Moore] has come in and just taken everything on board very well and makes the team feel really comfortable, so, there’s a lot of work that goes on throughout the week on our defensive structure and I think we needed that a lot.”

On Bellingham’s red card he added: “Jobe has put big tackles in and he does that every game. I feel for him and he doesn't even need to apologise. Love him. He puts his weight around, his quality on the ball is superb, and we'll miss him next week but we will have him back soon.”

It’s a quick turnaround for Sunderland as they face Preston North End on Wednesday. O’Nien added: “Last week was a very good performance [against Oxford United] from us but we were in the next day and the way we reviewed it. The gaffer always goes back to the system defensively all around the pitch and there are still a lot of areas to improve on. I think this will be a good game to watch back and review as I don’t think we got the flow we had in previous games. “It will be good to see why it wasn’t, then we have got to improve on it and get ready for Wednesday.”