Sunderland played well but suffered a defeat at Ewood Park following a few controversial refereeing decisions. Tony Mowbray made one change to the side that beat Wigan with the return of former Blackburn player Corry Evans in place of the injured Lynden Gooch.
The Sunderland boss was looking to gain back-to-back wins at the home of his former club, where he spent over five years in charge.
The first half was even but it was separated by a moment of pure quality from Ben Brereton Diaz. It got better for the hosts three minutes into the second period with Scott Wharton’s goal which was enough to seal the points.
Sunderland had an early chance and the lads worked it well down the left and Jack Clarke slipped it into Dennis Cirkin who was through on goal, but the angle was a bit too tight and dragged it wide.
20 minutes into the match, the two sides looked very well matched, with Sunderland edging possession but struggling to break through. Sunderland was gifted a chance as Ben Brereton-Diaz’s failed clearance fell to Alex Pritchard, who struck from range, but he couldn’t keep it down.
The hosts took the lead half an hour in through Brereton Diaz, he curled a beauty into the far corner past Antony Patterson. Sunderland will have felt aggrieved as moments before, Clarke was clearly brought down in the box and denied a penalty.
The lads had a chance to level through Clarke as the ball was whipped in by Luke O’Nien, but the makeshift striker couldn’t quite get the power on it to beat Thomas Kaminski.
Three minutes into the second half and the hosts doubled their lead, Ryan Hedges’ whipped free kick was flicked home by Scott Wharton who looked offside.
Sunderland came so close to getting a goal back a ball in by O’Nien was flicked up and Danny Batth from the back, jumped highest and forced Kaminski into a great save. The lads had responded well to going two down and were applying the pressure on the Blackburn back line. Mowbray be happy with his side’s performance, it’s just unfortunate that they couldn’t turn the pressure into goals.
All Sunderland was missing was that final ball/shot, Jewison Bennette tried his luck on the angle but couldn’t squeeze it in.
The lads on another day could have walked away with all three points, but for all the good build up play they didn’t have the cutting edge in the final third.
Full Time: Blackburn 2-0 Sunderland
ALS Man of the Match:
Sunderland: Patterson, O'Nien, Batth, Alese (Hume 73’), Cirkin, Evans Michut 82’), Neil (Amad 64’), Roberts, Embleton (Ba 64’), Pritchard (Bennette 64’), Clarke
Subs Not Used: Bass, Wright.
