Sunderland assistant boss Steve Parkin was delighted with the performance against Crewe, even though it took an own goal to seal a 1-0 win.

The Black Cats stayed firmly in the mix at the top end of the League One table ahead of this Saturday’s visit of Portsmouth by extending their unbeaten start to the season.

Sunderland have collected 14 points from the opening 18 available to them, keeping five clean sheets in a row too, to give everyone confidence on Wearside.

Sunderland should have been clear long before Crewe fought for an equaliser in the closing stages but wasteful finishing did not do their good play justice.

And in the end Luke Offord’s header into the Crewe goal in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half was required to secure three points for Sunderland.

Offord headed Gooch’s perfect delivery inside the far post under pressure from striker Charlie Wyke.

Parkin said: “The lads in the dressing room are a little bit disappointed with the goals tally because I think some of the football that we played warranted two or three more goals.

“I think we’ve limited a good side who we’ve watched closely this season to practically nothing. We’ve had 20-odd attempts and we just need to concentrate on converting a few more of those because it made it a little bit hairy again.

“But the resilience of the boys and the way they defended was admirable at the end to make sure we got that 1-0 victory.”

Chris Maguire was lively throughout the game, but cut a frustrated figure at times with a number of missed chances.

Parkin said: “We all know Chrissy is a technical player and a dangerous player, but the one thing we have reiterated to him from day one is that it’s alright having all the ability in the world, but you’ve got to run as well. To be fair to him, he’s done that.

“His running stats are always right up there, and he’s put in another solid, hard-working performance for the team tonight. Maybe he didn’t quite get his just rewards in front of goal – he snapped one past the post in the first half – but in general, his performances have been very good.

“I think we should highlight the quality of the crossing from Lynden Gooch and Denver Hume at times, where crosses were going into the box into good areas.

“We constantly put a good team under pressure, and managed to miss a few from close range as well.

“The evening could have been more comfortable, but sometimes these results are really satisfying, when you keep a clean sheet and see a real intensity from the lads to keep the ball out of the net.”

Crewe boss David Artell felt that Sunderland were the better side and he had no complaints about the defeat.

He told the club’s official website: “I cannot fault the effort and endeavour of the players but sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say you have been beaten by the better side.

“We gave ourselves a lot of work to do in the first half because we were shelling the ball and had to do a lot of running. We altered some little things at half-time and we improved. We gave it a go in the last 20 minutes or so but didn’t test their goalkeeper enough.”