Fulham star Tom Cairney has called on his team to score more 'scruffy' goals so they can find some momentum in the Championship.

The Cottagers were beaten 1-0 by Sunderland - the North East side's first home win in 2017 - in a game of few real chances.

The Scotland international was forthright in his assessment.

He said: "Yeah it was very disappointing. I think after winning three out of four and looking to build some momentum we came here with confidence but we just couldn't find the last pass or the last cross to get the touch and go.

"I think they defended well, and defended the box well. They had a lot of men behind the ball, there weren't any clear cut chances, we had a few shots, a header, I got one blocked in the box.

"It was just one of them games where there weren't many clear cut chances and the one chance they had in the second half they scored a goal.

"We had a lot of possession but we couldn't create chances, it was tough.

Tom Cairney shoots

"I don't know why - we'll work it out when we watch the game back but they defended well.

"Maybe we do that sometimes [try to score the perfect goal], we try to cut teams open and square balls into the box.

"We don't really score many scruffy goals. We could do with scoring a few more of them this season."

The 26-year-old nevertheless was sure Fulham would respond against Barnsley, and admitted they needed to find consistency to hit last season's heights.

He said: "I'm confident we can bounce back next Saturday, honestly this league is horrible and it's tough and it's unforgiving and we'll try and forget about it by Tuesday or Wednesday then go again.

"It's all about consistency in this league and in any league. If you're going to win anything you need to find that as soon as possible."