Sunderland threw away a two goal lead to lose 4-2 to Burnley at the SOL on Saturday afternoon after a disappointing second half performance.
The lads had raced into a deserved first half lead thanks to goals from Amad and Dan Neil as Sunderland took the game to Burnley on the front foot. However the second half was a different story with Burnley looking stronger and scoring three goals in 20 minutes through Tella, Benson and Zaroury. Josh Brownhill completed the comeback late in the game as the lads were ran ragged second half.
After a disappointing defeat at Blackburn on Tuesday Sunderland had another tough test as high flying Burnley headed to Wearside knowing a win could see them go top of the Championship. Aside from the defeat there was also bad news from Ewood Park with Aje Aleese picking up an injury which was set to side-line him for a few weeks.
Tony Mowbray made two changes from Tuesday with Hume replacing Alese and Amad replacing Patrick Roberts who missed out as well after picking up a knock in training. The visitors got the game underway kicking towards the North Stand where they had a decent following up from Burnley.
We had a shot on target after three minutes when Embleton slipped through a few challenges but the keeper easily held his low left footed shot. It was a fairly even but scrappy opening ten minutes with both sides cancelling each other out. After 14 minutes O’Nien cheaply conceded possession allowing Burnley to break but Dennis Cirkin did well to block a shot by Tella.
The lads took the lead two minutes later with a superb goal from Amad Diallo. Alex Pritchard did well on the left to evade a couple of tackles before playing the ball inside to Jack Clarke. Rather than shoot Clarke shifted the ball to his right to the unmarked Amad who rolled the ball into the bottom right hand corner with a crisp left foot finish.
Sunderland doubled their lead five minutes later through another superb goal this time Dan Neil finding the back of the net. The ball was played in from the right from Embleton and Burnley failed to deal with it before Neil smashed a left footed half volley into the back of the net. There was then a small break in play while the officials discussed something on the touchline and a message was shown asking Burnley fans to throw missiles so I assume it was to do with that.
The lads were grafting really hard pressing Burnley really high up the pitch not giving them a second on the ball. Burnley got forward on a couple of occasions down the right but Sunderland dealt with the crosses well. There was five minutes added time and Sunderland saw these out well. The visitors did force a corner but Sunderland looked comfortable and cleared it.
Burnley made a change at the break with Benson replacing Barnes before Sunderland restarted the game kicking towards the North Stand. We forced an early corner after a marauding run by Cirkin down the left. However we took it short and Embleton saw his shot from the edge of the box charged down. At the other end Burnley then forced a corner conceded by Hume which saw the visitors pull a goal back. The ball was stood up to the back post before being headed back across goal for Tella to nod in from close range.
To be fair to the lads they responded well to conceding and went back on the offensive with a good move down the left which eventually saw Evans see a shot from the edge of the box blocked. Burnley then penned us in for a bit before the lads broke with Pritchard finding Clarke. He beat a challenge and drove towards the box before slipping the ball to Amad who scuffed a shot into the keepers arms. We then had another good passage of play om the right with Amad finding Embleton on the corner of the box but the keeper also held his effort.
With half an hour remaining Burnley drew level through Benson after a spell of sustained pressure where Sunderland couldn’t make the ball stick up front. Benson was given far too much space on the right wing before cutting inside and riding a challenge from Cirkin. He then clipped a cross come shot into the box which no one touched but it curled past Anthony Patterson and nestled into the back of the net.
Sunderland had an immediate chance to retake the lead when Clarke found himself through on goal but he was denied by a smart save from the keeper. Tony Mowbray then made his first change of the afternoon with Pritchard replaced by Bennette.
With 20 minutes left Burnley completed the turn around when they struck a third through Anass Zaroury. He picked up the ball on the left and cut inside Hume before unleashing an unstoppable shot past Patterson into the top right hand corner. Danny Baath then picked up a yellow card before Mowbray made a double change with Ba and Michut replacing Evans and Embleton.
The changes didn’t really make an impact with Burnley always looking stronger and they rounded off a remarkable come back with a goal three minutes from time. Dan Neil got robbed of possession in our half by Benson and he found Brownhill unmarked on the edge of the box who fired past Patterson.
There was five minutes injury time and although Sunderland kept pushing they looked shattered and deflated after a disappointing second half performance.
Final Score – Sunderland 2 Burnley 4
ALS Man of the Match - Dan Neil
