Simon Grayson explains why he didn’t play Jonny Williams for Sunderland

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Sunderland drew 1-1 with Queens Park Rangers in their most recent fixture.

Sunderland boss Simon Grayson has told the Sunderland Echo that Jonny Williams almost made his starting line-up against Queens Park Rangers.

Sunderland decided to go with two up-front against QPR, but Grayson’s tactical decision perhaps didn’t have the impact desired.

Duncan Watmore was favoured over Williams in Sunderland’s starting line-up.

And Grayson has suggested that he has some regret over leaving the attacking midfielder out, after the Black Cats were only able to pick up a 1-1 draw.

“He [Williams] was very close to playing. He played on Monday night (for Wales), but one of the reasons why he didn’t start is because I wanted to play with two up front,” Grayson said.

“I wanted to take the game to them, and I wanted to play Vaughan up there because we wanted to get more crosses into the box, and he could get on the end of things.

“I wanted Duncan up there to run in behind them as well. Did it pan out how we wanted it to? “Probably not. But Jonny was always going to be an option in the second half because he’s brave and he wants to get on the ball and make things happen.”

Sunderland are still looking for their first home win for almost a year, and things could almost have been worse against QPR.

Rangers took the lead early on through Idrissa Sylla and then went on to waste a number of good opportunities to extend their lead.

It proved costly, as Sunderland showed their powers of recovery to claim a point.

Sunderland scored their goal through Aiden McGeady, but Grayson’s side are still left in the relegation zone.