David Moyes lamented his Sunderland side’s exit from the FA Cup — and, more pertinently, the paucity of his squad — as goals from Sam Vokes and Andre Gray helped Burnley into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Vokes glanced home Tendayi Darikwa’s cross just before the break as Burnley’s superior poise and possession finally paid off, while substitute Gray fired in a second from 12 yards out with seven minutes of the tie remaining.
The Sunderland manager is missing a host of players through injury and Africa Cup of Nations call-ups.
“I’ve not wanted to use it as an excuse and I’m not using it tonight as an excuse at all,” Moyes said of the state of his squad. “The players out there tonight I expect to play better.
“We’ve not got European football or midweek games so we wanted a good run in the cup and I genuinely wanted to get through in the cup.”
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As for any new signings, he added: “We are trying. We’re always hopeful and pushing to see if something can work and we have to see what happens.”
Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager was more buoyant. “I enjoyed the performance, I enjoy most of our performances,” he said.“We had to find the way to get the job done and we did.”