Sunderland's poor away form was highlighted once again, with Bristol City capitalising on the Black Cats' sloppy play on the ball.
The last few weeks had been an emotional roller coaster on Wearside, but the lads had finally found some form. Mike Dodds had successfully guided them to two big wins on the bounce. A big 2-1 win against playoff hopefuls West Brom was followed by a tactical masterclass against Leeds. Jobe scored his fourth goal of the season and we won 1-0.
Those results had restored the fans faith in ‘Doddsy’ and the players. However, it's now looking increasingly likely that former Rangers manager Michael Beale will be replacing the former Birmingham youth coach. Personally, I’m not sure that this is the right call, but I suppose we’ll have to back him and see what he can do. Hopefully, we Will Still beat the Mags.
Speaking of switching head coaches, Bristol City haven’t had the best time under Liam Manning. The Robins had failed to win their last four games, with their most recent results being a 2-1 defeat to Blackburn. Like many clubs, Bristol City seem to be stagnating in the Championship and it doesn’t look like they’ll be going anywhere this season. Too good to go down, but not good enough to go up.
Starting 11: Anthony Patterson, Niall Huggins, Luke O’Nien (C), Dan Ballard, Niall Huggins, Dan Neil, Pierre Ekwah, Jack Clarke, Patrick Roberts, Abdoullah Ba, Alex Pritchard
Dodds made two changes to the starting 11, Pierre Ekwah came back in for Jenson Seelt and Jobe was dropped for Patrick Roberts. I was surprised that Jobe was dropped and Ba wasn’t. But, it wasn't a surprise that he reverted to a back four.
We started brightly but had tried to overplay it at times, and been sloppy in possession. We were punished for this around 20 minutes in, when Bristol City scored from a penalty. Patto's pass was poor, meaning we lost possession and our keeper had to bring their forward down in the box. Tommy Conway slotted it home to put the home side in front.
Patrick Roberts attacked and had a good effort after some nice link up play between him and Ekwah. He should have equalised, but the Lads were starting to grow into the game.
Trai Hume won a free kick after he was hacked down by Rob Dickie. The centre back was shown a yellow card. Alex Pritchard took the free kick, but his effort was straight at the keeper.
Right after that, the lads got forward again and Jack Clarke put a ball across goal which Abdoullah Ba should have got on the end off. It was all Sunderland, and it looked like an equaliser was coming.
Dodds’ men were passing the ball around well. But, we lacked that cutting edge in the final third. Jack Clarke was fouled by George Tanner and the lads won another set-piece. Pritchard whipped the ball into the box, and despite it not looking intentional his effort hit the bar.
The first half ended a frustrating 1-0. We had certainly improved as the first half went on, yet we found ourselves trailing the game due to a stupid error. Patterson really needs to work on his kicking. However, we were still in the game and if we showed more cutting edge in the second half, we could turn the game around.
The lads got control of possession and started passing it around the opposition's penalty area. Pierre Ekwah had a good long ranged effort that led to a few corners. We didn’t make much of them, but we immediately got back up the pitch and won another one. Trai Hume got caught in the tussle, but luckily he was alright.
Sunderland were playing with more intent this half. Clarke moved back to his preferred position on the left, and he was cutting inside the Bristol City box.
Luke O’Nien came close to getting the equaliser, when his headed effort was saved off the line by Max O’Leary. The onslaught continued and Ba had an effort saved.
Bristol City finally had a shot on goal, but just like in the first half it was from our own undoing. Sometimes our players need to play the simple pass instead of overcomplicating things.
The home side won a corner, but Jack Clarke was able to nick the ball and break for a counter. He was chopped down and we were awarded a free kick. Luke O’Nien was able to get his head on it, but yet again it was saved.
Time was ticking and we needed to score, so Mike Dodds brought on Jobe for Abdoullah Ba. He immediately went up front.
Sunderland won another corner, and there was a potential handball, but the referee didn’t give it. The land continued to push forward and Jobe won another corner.
We were winning a lot of corners, but we couldn’t do anything with them. Patrick Roberts was getting the better of Cameron Pring, so we were getting the ball down the right hand side.
Alex Pritchard’s cross was attacked by Jobe, who saw his effort saved. He was then shown a yellow a few minutes later for slicing down Tommy Conway.
Speaking of yellow cards, substitute Joseph Williams was shown one for a bad tackle on Ekwah. The home side then won a few corners of their own, but failed to make anything of them.
After a short spell of possession from the home side, Sunderland were back on the attack. Patrick Roberts had a close range effort blocked by Cameron Pring.
More substitutions were made. Pierre Ekwah and Alex Pritchard made way for Bradley Dack and Adil Aouchiche. Rusyn, Mayenda and Burstow were all on the bench, so it was irritating to see Dack come on instead...
The Lads were getting forward, but lacked a lot of creativity and cutting edge. We were in the final 10 minutes and Bristol City were still winning the game. Roberts was shown a yellow for going into the back of substitute Andreas Weimann.
Sunderland were still looking for an equaliser, so Mayenda was thrown on for Niall Huggins. Clarke won a free kick just outside the box, that was taken by Dack. Dan Ballard then had a tame effort comfortably saved by the keeper.
Three minutes were added on at the end, and Sunderland won a last minute corner, that ended with the referee giving a foul on the goalkeeper. The players weren’t happy and started squabbling. Ballard was given a yellow card and the game ended 1-0.
We had a lot of possession, but couldn’t score any goals. Bristol City were absolutely terrible and yet we still found a way to gift wrap them a win in time for Christmas.
ALS Man of The Match – Luke O’Nien: No one really stood out, but O’Nien came close to scoring a few times on set pieces, so I’ll give it to him.
Final Score – Bristol City 1-0 Sunderland.
