Well, that was more like it; a great response after picking up no points since our win against Blackburn at the end of last year. Also, we were beaten 1-0 in the reverse fixture at our stadium on Boxing Day and it was time for a little bit of payback. Unfortunately, I did not make the journey up to Sunderland as I thought this would be a typical away day for us, however, it was the antithesis of that, even without nine of our top players, two of which are playing in the AFCON. Why can’t we play like this in every game? If we kept consistent, we would be higher up in the table.
This was a must win for us and anything else would have certainly crushed any hope at finishing around the top six. Rosenior even stated in his post match interview after the Birmingham game that he wanted that to be the last time where we dominate games, but end up throwing them away due to daft mistakes. This is a step in the right direction, but it means nothing if we don’t start getting some more points on the board.
Rosenior made two changes to the starting eleven, replacing Scott Twine, who has now moved to Bristol City, and Aaron Connolly, out due to concussion, with Greg Dochery, making his first start of the season, and Jason Lokilo. That meant in a 4-4-2 formation, we lined up as follows: Ryan Allsop, between the sticks; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Matty Jacobs, holding the back line; Jason Lokilo, Greg Docherty, Tyler Morton and Regan Slater anchoring the middle and that leaves Ozan Tufan and Fabio Carvalho leading the pack.
From the off, it was blatant what our game plan was: keep the ball and get both the fans and Sunderland annoyed, which paid off really well. I have to say that it was quite tedious to watch us pass the ball around for a long period of time and on some occasions we gave the ball away in the final third from loose passes or being pressured. Fortunately, the hosts were lacklustre coming forward and did not cause any concerns for Allsop. Except for one effort on goal–even that was tame–when Pritchard rolled a weak shot into the hands of our keeper after breaking towards the penalty area.
Alas, we weren’t much better coming forward too, managing to only get one shot off in the first half, which came on the half-hour mark; some great link up play from us on the edge of the box allowed Carvalho to pass it to Tufan, who spotted Coyle on the overlap and neatly played it to him, but his stabbed effort was saved comfortably by Patterson, their keeper.
The rest of the half was very scrappy with us picking up five yellow cards, which had to be part of our plan. We also managed to keep both Bellingham and Jack Clarke quiet, the latter scoring the winning goal on Boxing Day, all down to our players doubling up on them both whenever they had the ball. On the whole, it was a nice half to watch, as it was the first time this season where we looked super organised and like a top six team.
The second period was more or less the same, save for Sunderland putting their foot on the gas and coming out of their shell a bit more. Thus, allowed them to get the first real opportunity of the night in the 60th minute; a cross from the left flank was only cleared as far as Hume, who, from 25-yards out, controlled it excellently and let rip a dipping effort, which was tipped over the crossbar.
We responded to this warning brilliantly and started pressuring them a lot more, which was rewarded and broke the deadlock in the 71st minute. Tyler Morton put in a dangerous cross, after picking up a loose ball from our corner, which found Carvalho, unmarked, who controlled it neatly and shot on target, which took a deflection and rifled into the back of the net. A great way for him to get his first goal in a black and amber shirt.
The remaining 20 minutes was very nerve wracking for us as it saw us on the back foot, with Sunderland coming at us. Thankfully, due to our tight defence, the hosts lacking quality in the final third, us defending about 10 corners and ability to hold out the game, we earned the three points, which has put us back into the playoffs.
In the end, I thought it was a decent performance from us and all credit to the players, who stuck to the plan and threw their lives on the line to instil some hope into the fans for a promising season. We have not secured a seat in the top six, though, as Coventry have the opportunity to leapfrog us and Middlesbrough and Watford may go on level points with us if they all win this weekend.
We now have a two week break until our next game, which will see us face 16th placed Millwall in our own backyard. Hopefully by then, we have done some more transfer business and have improved the areas in our team, which need addressing. If we get that right and beat Millwall, my hopes for a top-six finish may be restored.
You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.