Sunderland 1 - West Bromwich Albion 2

Date:	Monday 12th December 2022
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Sunderland: 5.4	(4-2-3-1) Patterson, Gooch, O'Nien, Batth (Roberts, 90), Alese, Evans, Neil (Cirkin, 74), Diallo, Embleton (Clarke, 58), Pritchard (Dajaku, 90), Simms (Ba, 90) Unused subs: Bass, Hume
WBA: 6.9	(4-2-3-1) Palmer 7.2, Furlong 4.8, O'Shea 5.8, Pieters 5.5 (Gardner-Hickman, 65 6.4), Townsend 4.4 (Reach, 65 5.3), Yokuslu 6.5, Molumby 4.7 (Rogic, 58 7.5), Wallace 7.6 (Kelly, 86 5.9), Swift 6.5, Phillips 5.2, Thomas-Asante 6.1 (Dike, 64 7.8) Unused subs: Button, Grant Manager: Carlos Corberán 8.2
Scorers:	Diallo (19 pen); Rogic (70), Dike (82)
Referee:	James Linnington (Isle of Wight) 5.7
Attendance:	37,432 Home Fans 5.3 Away Fans 7.6

Brendan Clegg:

A thrilling and, from where we were at half-time, remarkable victory for which our manager must take full credit.

Concerned that both Bartley and Ajayi failed to make it, I thought we’d struggle tonight and the first half played out that way. We were slow, ponderous, predictable and we made poor decisions everywhere.

I thought Sunderland deserved their lead and it was a penalty - Townsend flat footed, not tracking and then really clumsy. It was probably the case that they’d benefited from an extra game as we looked rusty and couldn’t keep the ball. In truth, but for a brilliant Palmer save we’d have been 2-0 down and out of it. As the half wore on though we did start to find our feet - Sunderland might’ve seen red for the cynical foul on Swift and I thought the tackle from behind on BTA running through that didn’t get given was an easy yellow.

We came out after the break better, aggressive and moving the ball quicker. Corberan didn’t hang about, getting Rogic on for Mulumby soon after and then as we built momentum on came Dike, Reach and TGH with Okay going into defence.

We were rewarded with two outstanding goals - a brutal and nonchalant finish from Rogic from the edge of the box and then later a sweeping move at speed and on the margins of risk everywhere, Rogic feeding Wallace who crossed early for Dike to head home.

Sunderland might’ve had a pen although BTA had a similar one not given and we saw it out despite some wobbles.

Massive win, first from behind this season, a manager who won’t leave you wondering ‘what if?’, brilliant goals and a stirring feeling that anything might be possible now.

Palmer - 7 Big contribution kept us in it.
Furlong - 6 Too slow to pass but got better.
Pieters - 6 okay but vulnerable
O’Shea - 6 Looked less confident without Bartley
Townsend - 5 Rusty and made poor decisions offensively too
Okay - 6 Did we’ll but took a long time to get going.
Mulumby - 5 Struggled. Technically, wouldn’t get in a Mowbray team.
Wallace - 7 Kept the supply of crosses coming.
Swift - 6 Bright moments.
Phillips - 6 Strong but didn’t do enough running off the ball.
BTA - 6 Enthusiastic and worked hard. Needs to get himself in the box more and let others support out wide.

Rogic - 7 Owed us that but classy cameo
Reach - 5 Looked ropey to me!
TGH - 6 Some great passes. I’d start him.
Dike - 7 Looked a handful. Goal will be brilliant for him. Loved how he just hit the box early.
Kelly - not on long enough.

Can’t wait for Saturday