MICHAEL BEALE has admitted Sunderland’s Wear-Tyne derby defeat to Newcastle United was an “eye-opener” for his young squad, but is hoping the experience will stand his players in good stead as they push for promotion in the second half of the season.

The Black Cats were second best as their proud run of nine derby matches undefeated came crashing to an end and they also exited the FA Cup courtesy of a 3-0 defeat.

Sunderland failed to seriously lay a glove on their opponents until they were two goals down, and while Alex Pritchard threatened with a couple of decent efforts in the second half, the gulf in quality between the two sides was glaringly apparent.

Beale accepts his players were ultimately unable to bridge that gap, but feels the experience of coming up against a side that were in the Champions League as recently as last month can still prove beneficial.

“We have to have an honest conversation about what happened,” said the Sunderland boss. “Newcastle, at their best under Eddie (Howe), are super-organised and aggressive in their press. They play on your mistakes and counter on you quicky, and I thought that was a factor in the game.

“They’re a Champions League team, so the resistance we met was the highest we could have. I think life got really real for everyone in our young team today, so we need to use that and go to work. I’d expect the level of our training to go up after a game like today because it’s a knowledge thing.

“There’s no ignorance now about the level. If we felt we were close, or individuals felt they were close, to playing at that level regularly, then today is a bit of an eye-opener in terms of the knowledge.

“Now, we need to go to work. I’m super-optimistic after today that, if we’re really honest and we use it to improve our Championship form, then this team will make big strides quickly.”

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Beale was frustrated at his side’s lack of threat in the first half, and felt they improved after the break.

Ultimately, though, some crucial defensive errors cost them, with the challenge of beating a team that has been assembled at a cost of around £250m in the last few seasons proving too great.

“It was a tough afternoon,” admitted Beale. “In the first half, for the most part, I thought we defended okay. But we weren’t tidy enough in possession and didn’t show enough quality to throw any punches at Newcastle.

“At half-time, we talked about being bolder, and we made a couple of changes to get people higher up the pitch. We got the back four higher, but had the worst possible start to the second half, that’s clear for everybody to see.

“After that, I thought we actually started getting into some interesting areas. If we’d scored, the fans would have done the rest for us because I thought they were fantastic in their backing of the team today.

“But the two goals we conceded in the second half were decisive because the third goal was really poor on our part too. Let’s be honest, though, there was a gap between the two teams when we arrived at the stadium today and, while we tried to close that gap over 90 minutes, we weren’t able to do that.

“My young team must really be honest with themselves – the staff, the players, everyone at the football club – about today, because then I think we’ll improve and we can use it in our Championship form for the games we’ve got coming up.”