Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce was left to rue his luck following his side's 'cruel loss' to Liverpool last night.

The Saints managed to keep the Reds quiet in the first half but conceded an unfortunate Christian Benteke goal just 22 seconds into the second half of the 1-0 defeat.

"It was a cruel goal, very cruel indeed," Allardyce told SAFSEE.

"I don't think Liverpool created the goal; it was pure luck. Even the finish was slightly mis-hit, but it went on and that's what matters.

"I think that killed the whole place because we were so optimistic about the second half after what we'd tried to do in the first.

"It took a while to recover from that but in the end there wasn't enough quality play in the final third from ourselves to create the sort of chances to get us back in the game."