Sunderland’s Championship playoff push took a hit following a second successive defeat on the road. Jamie Allen’s goal separated the two sides at the break and Viktor Gyokeres’ strike added the crucial second; Amad got a late consolation, but it was too little too late.
Sunderland made a few changes and returned to the regular line up with Aji Alese, Trai Hume and Patrick Roberts coming in for Dennis Cirkin, Luke O’Nien and Alex Pritchard.
The two sides met on the opening day of the season and are both looking to get into the playoff positions come the end of May.
Sunderland had the first effort on goal, and Trai Hume stung the palms of Ben Wilson with a powerful effort from range. The lads were inches away from taking the lead from a Roberts free kick, Roberts curled a ball in that was met by Danny Batth, but it bounced back off the bar. Tony Mowbray will have been pleased with the first 15 minutes of play with 77% possession and a few promising openings.
Coventry were presented with a gift of a chance with Amad playing it straight to Viktor Gyokeres who burst past Batth but blazed it over. The hosts took the lead 25 minutes in after a scrappy exchange in midfield and Gyokeres squared it to Jamie Allen who guided it past Anthony Patterson.
The home side were well on top, and the Swedish striker was causing all sorts of problems, he drove past Batth and dragged an effort just wide. Coventry looked a threat whenever they were in possession, Gustavo Hamer had an effort on the volley that whistled over the bar.
Sunderland had started the second half the better side, but were struggling to get the final pass right. Roberts and Amad linked up with some lovely play and the Ivorian fired an effort towards the near post that was well stopped by Wilson.
Coventry were a real threat on the break and they spring into action so quickly and tried to get in behind the Sunderland defence.
Sunderland came close to getting leveller through Hume, the corner bounced up but the full back couldn’t keep it down. Amad did well to beat his man down the right and pulled it back to Roberts on the swivel who rushed it and should have scored but he didn’t.
It was the lads who were dominating the ball, but couldn’t break through and the more the game wore on the lack of striker was hurting the team. On the break Coventry’s star man Gyokeres scored a second and secured all three points for the home team.
Amad scored a wonderful goal right at the end of injury time with a lovely curling effort leaving Wilson helpless but it wasn’t enough to take any points back to Wearside.
Full time: Coventry 1-2 Sunderland
ALS Man of the Match: Amad
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, Alese (Bennette 81), Michut (Ba 70’), Neil (O’Nien 74’), Roberts, Amad, Clarke (Pritchard 70’), Gelhardt (Ekwah 70’)
Subs Not Used: Bass, Lihadji
