IT might have been a case of a missed opportunity at the weekend, but Lee Johnson believes Sunderland have what it takes to stay firmly in the promotion mix this season.

The Black Cats should have turned a point into three against Oxford, but they were unable to convert second-half chances into a winning goal.

Ross Stewart and Nathan Broadhead both hit the woodwork as Sunderland went in search of a winner but the Us survived and returned south with a point.

It was a satisfactory result for Oxford boss Karl Robinson, who welcomed six players back to his squad following a Covid crisis within the camp, and he was happy to admit as much afterwards.

But Sunderland wasted a golden chance to climb level with leaders Rotherham, even though Johnson’s men still managed to extend their unbeaten run to four matches ahead of two more home dates with Morecambe and Plymouth this week.

“Expectation is huge here and rightly so,” said Johnson, knowing there was frustration among the 26,000-plus crowd. “But there are sides who are pretty close too. It is a close league. What you have to do is be consistent, creative and you have to do everything you can to score twos and threes.

“I think we did enough to score the twos and threes but for whatever reason it didn’t happen this time.”

Oxford are a dangerous side under Robinson and are likely to stay right in the thick of the promotion shake-up themselves.

But Sunderland have a squad capable of going up and that was highlighted by the standard of performance despite having eight senior players ruled out through injury.

Even though Oxford could have been ahead themselves in the first half, Sunderland’s second-half performance only lacked one thing – the winning goal.

Johnson feels his players are learning, even on a tricky Stadium of Light surface, that every game is different in League One and they have to be ready for anything that crops up.

He said: “I thought we did well. The pitch isn’t conducive to the way we want to play. The first five or six games it was zipping around with the spin on the ball, but it is almost tumbleweed the way we move the ball out there are the moment.

“That is why someone like Carl Winchester is important, he was outstanding. The mileage and energy he put in, he tried to drive forward as often as he could. He is very competitive in the middle.

“We have to change our style at times based on the environment and that is classic League One football. You have to win in many different ways.

“I am full of praise for the way we played but we haven’t got the win. In terms of the quality on show, the level of sheer territory second half we deserved more from the game.”

When Alex Pritchard rolled a pass to Dajaku in the seventh minute, the German winger controlled, beat his man before stroking a lovely finish low and beyond goalkeeper Simon Eastwood.

It was the perfect start and Sunderland should have taken control there and then. Instead Oxford impressed for the remainder of the opening period and deservedly levelled when Nathan Holland brushed aside Lynden Gooch too easily with nine minutes left of the half inside the Sunderland box. Holland’s cut back was perfect for Matty Taylor to strike low and inside the far corner to level things up.

Sunderland were still the better of the two after the restart but wasted some fantastic opportunities to win it.

Johnson said: “There were seven academy graduates in and around the squad, which highlights the injury scenario, but you have to credit these boys for how hard these have worked against a very good Oxford side.

“We flipped the shape second half, it was a different square peg in a different round hole, but we couldn’t get that ball over the line. Whether that was good goalkeeping, bad finishing, we just failed to get that final delivery."