After a fantastic run of results recently, we were brought back down to earth with a bang and a poor performance to go with it. After the weekend’s 2-0 win over Barnsley Keane brought Hysen and Yorke back into the team for Wallace and Liam Miller. Stoke were there for the taking, and maybe the players took it too lightly.
The first half was quite a scrappy affair with neither side taking the game by the scruff of the neck. As a result of this both sides were able to carve out a few decent chances but nothing clear cut for either team. Out of the two, Stoke looked the strongest in attack with their two big centre forwards; we never looked able to cope with them which left us vulnerable to high balls. Midway into the first half and the sucker punch came, after some frankly abysmal defending from the lads the Stoke midfielder was left to stroll towards the box with the ball and unleash a shot which was unfortunately knocked into his own net by Darren Ward. Moans and groans echoed throughout the stadium, though they weren’t to last too long. Straight after Stoke had scored the lads broke down the right wing, and a fantastic cross from Leadbitter was comfortably knocked back from David Connolly for the on running Dean Whitehead, who unleashed a terrific low drive into the bottom corner. 1-1 and back in the game again. After a good period of 5-10 minutes nothing came from the pressure we managed to build up and we looked lacklustre, almost nervous of the possibility of moving into second place. The game began to fade out towards half time, which we needed so we could regroup to show any kind of drive to winning. However, after more woeful defending Sunderland succumbed to another goal from Stoke. The lads had numerous chances to get rid of the danger, but the Stoke midfielder was given far too much time on the ball in the box and was able to lash a shot past Ward.
Half time score 1-2
The second half began where the first had left off and we were still very poor. Stoke where happy with their 1-2 lead and simply sat back into a well organised defensive unit whenever we crossed the half way line, though they were still dangerous on the attack. We were far too slow on the attack and something needed to be changed, Wallace had been brought on for Jonny Evans at half time who appeared to be injured, and Daryl Murphy came on for Stern John who’d been poor throughout the game. Murphy brought some much needed strength and pace to the game and looked lively, it was just unfortunate that the other nine outfield players didn’t appear to want it as much as Murphy. We had much of the ball without really creating any chances, once we were into the final third of the field our attacking ability fell away. We simply couldn’t break Stoke down who were very well organised, something which we’ve struggled with throughout the season with the likes of Crystal Palace and Preston coming to Sunderland only to aggravate us. The fans began to feel annoyed and let down by the performance we were given after such a promising run this side of the year. Stoke could have went 1-3 up with a cheeky flick from their striker which thankfully came back off the post and was cleared away from danger. With minutes ticking away it looked like we’d be heading away with nothing from the match. However, after our corner was half cleared Leadbitter flicked the ball back into the box which was flicked on by Nosworthy and smashed home by Daryl Murphy. 2-2 and after an awful performance it was greatly received and with other results going our way it could have been worse.
MOTM – Difficult to single one player out as they were all equally poor, despite being part of the defence which conceded two goals Danny Collins was the best performer on the pitch.