SOMETIMES, when you’ve made a mistake, especially one that has played out publicly, it can be hard to hold up your hand and admit you got things wrong.

In the immediate aftermath of his dismissal for a reckless and mistimed lunge at Swansea City midfielder Ollie Cooper, it was no surprise to see Luke O’Nien protesting his innocence as he remonstrated with referee Keith Stroud.

By the time the dust was settling on Sunderland’s subsequent 3-1 defeat, however, O’Nien was ready to acknowledge his guilt. A couple of minutes after the final whistle was blown, he was apologising to his team-mates at the Stadium of Light. A few hours later, he was issuing a statement via social media, expressing his regret to Sunderland’s fans.

Having flown into a tackle he was never going to win, and left his team-mates battling against a numerical disadvantage for more than 70 minutes, O’Nien knows he got things wrong. Provided he avoids a similar misjudgement in the future, a valuable lesson should have been learned.

“I usually enjoy a hard tackle, but today I slightly mistimed it and it cost the boys,” said O’Nien on Twitter. “I feel disappointed in myself, and I’m gutted for the boys as we set up well for 30 minutes and (I) believe our tactics were spot on to that point.

“(I) was proud of the lads to see them keep fighting while down to ten men. I will learn from this and when I come back from suspension I’ll make sure that I’m a smarter and better player and will continue to give my all for the team and the fans.”

O’Nien deserves credit for his willingness to accept responsibility for his actions, as well as his pledge to learn from the experience. The 28-year-old’s passion and wholehearted commitment are key parts of his game, and traits that have endeared him to the Sunderland support as well as his head coach, Tony Mowbray, but he has not been immune to rushes of blood in the past, most notably when a similarly rash challenge in pre-season led to Roma boss Jose Mourinho marching onto the field and threatening to stop the game in the Algarve.

Saturday’s red card was O’Nien’s fifth as a senior professional – four with Sunderland and one with Wycombe – and he still needs to learn when self-control is required.

Admittedly, there were extenuating circumstances in the build-up to O’Nien’s dismissal at the weekend, with tensions having boiled over after the Black Cats were denied what appeared to be a clear-cut penalty when Amad Diallo was clipped as he turned in the Swansea box, but as Mowbray acknowledged, while emotions within the crowd might run wildly out of control, it is imperative the players on the pitch retain a clear head.

“Luke’s a very level-headed kid,” said Mowbray. “Yet I think it’s quite natural to get wrapped up in the game. It felt as if for a spell, the supporters could be our 11th man and make it an even game as such. The crowd can play such an important part, but maybe they overwound Luke O’Nien up a bit.

“It was just an overly-aggressive challenge. I’ve told him that. There was no need for that intent, yet you can imagine if he had made real clean contact and the ball had flown 50 yards up the field, the crowd would have roared and it would have kept the momentum going. Ultimately, though, on the back of that decision, the game swung pretty dramatically.”

Sunderland dug in impressively with ten men, and even restored parity after falling behind, with Dan Neil’s volleyed strike midway through the second half cancelling out Joel Piroe’s close-range opener for the Swans.

Ultimately, though, the challenge of containing a Swansea side adept at holding on to the ball with a man disadvantage proved too demanding.

Joe Cullen restored the visitors’ lead in fortuitous circumstances, unwittingly deflecting Danny Batth’s sliding clearance beyond Anthony Patterson, and Cooper settled things with 12 minutes left as he swooped onto a loose ball in the 18-yard box and drilled a fierce finish past Patterson at his near post.