Sunderland U21 coach Robbie Stockdale was pleased with their 0-0 draw with Villarreal in their Premier League U21 International Cup opener.
The Black Cats went close on a number of occasions through Mikael Mandron, but the Spanish side also showed glimpses of promise with a number of sleek counter attacks at the Stadium of Light.
"We were pushing forward towards the end to win the game but I had half an eye on our next two games, because if we win both of them we will progress so it was important not to lose," Stockdale told safc.com.
"That sounds a little negative but we have done that in the past with the naivety of the players bombing forward and competition football is a little different, so we're disappointed we haven't won but saying that they had a couple of good chances so overall a draw wasn't a bad result for either team."
