Regis Le Bris admitted Sunderland’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Lech Poznan was an open game but believes it is “good experience” for his youthful team.
The Black Cats took the lead only two minutes into the match through Timur Tutierov’s header from Nilson Angulo’s cross after the winger pounced on a loose pass from Lech goalkeeper Mateusz Liz.
There were further opportunities either side of the break when a strike from skipper Granit Xhaka was parried away by Lis, with Malick Fofana hitting the resulting rebound off the post while Lis made a solid save from Nordi Mukiele.
However, substitute Leo Bengtsson levelled with a low strike in the 70th minute to snatch Lech’s first point of the competition.
Reflecting on the match, Le Bris said: “Really open. We started really well I think. We expected this atmosphere and this style of play from our opponent, I think they are a good team.
“After the first goal, they showed they have quality to build up under pressure, to go through our block when we were a bit open. They created chances as well.
“After that we created our own chances and I think we deserved to score the second goal, but we didn’t. In a stadium like this, against a good team, the momentum can switch really quickly, and it happened.
“It was a good experience. We started the game with seven players who were under 23 years old, so they need to experience those situations, intense against a good team to get better.”
A point against Lech keeps Sunderland unbeaten in the Europa League having won their opening games against AZ Alkmaar and Torreense before drawing with Lech.
Thursday’s clash at the Enea Stadion comes following a disappointing Premier League outing on Sunday, where the Black Cats slipped to a 2-0 defeat with 10-men against Bournemouth, which leaves them bottom of the table, and Le Bris felt his side showed a reaction.
He said: “I think so. Against Torreense it was the case, played well against Alkmaar as well.
“It doesn’t mean because we lost a few games in the Premier League that the players or the team are weak. That is not the case.
“It is a question of details sometimes, and confidence as well. Those games are useful for that.”
Lech boss Niels Frederiksen expressed his satisfaction with his side’s performance as they earned their first point in the competition on the back of 4-0 defeats to both Crystal Palace and Bayer Leverkusen.
He said: “Of course we were very happy with the goal from Leo, it was very important for us to have at least a goal in the game today.
“I think it was a very even game, there were chances from both teams and both teams could have in the end taken the win. But I’m satisfied with our performance.”