'Costing us points' - Sunderland defender calls for immediate improvement

A familiar weakness struck Sunderland again at Huddersfield, and Trai Hume is as sick of it as anyone else.

Trai Hume says Sunderland need to stop conceding soft goals from set-pieces, saying it is ‘costing us games and costing us points.’

Huddersfield beat Sunderland 1-0 with Matty Pearson scoring the only goal from a set-piece, and it continued a worrying pattern for the Black Cats.

Four of the last six goals Sunderland have conceded have come from set-pieces, and Hume is as sick of it as anyone else.

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Speaking to safc.com, Hume said: “I thought we started the first half a bit slow, you know, and we all knew that and conceded our goal from a set play again, which seems to be happening a lot recently.

“So that's something we need to work on as a team and as staff, we need to stop it. It's costing us games and it's costing us points.

“There are a lot of teams pushing for that fifth and sixth spot and we're one of them, so we're going to have to try and pick up more points away from home.

“We haven't done that a lot well this season but you know I think that comes down to the set plays that we've been seeing recently.

“We don't concede from those set plays we would at least be leaving with a point or maybe three.

One thing that Sunderland cannot afford to do is dwell too much on the defeat at Huddersfield. They head straight to Birmingham City on Saturday for another key game, and one upon which there is now added pressure.

“We can't let it affect us, Hume said. “We have a game on Saturday now against Birmingham and it's going to be a tough place to go, so we have to get our heads down again and try and get three points there.”

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