Sunderland won a game of football at the SOL for the first time since January after coming from behind to beat Fleetwood Town 3-1 on Tuesday evening. Fleetwood capitalised on a shoddy first half display from Sunderland to lead at the break with Ellis Harrison finding the net. However, Sunderland did improve in the second half and goals from Elliot Embleton, Luke O’Nien and Jack Clarke sealed the points for Alex Neil’s side who move back up the league table to fifth.
Alex Neil made three changes to the side that drew with Charlton at the Valley on Saturday. Patrick Roberts made his first start for the lads replacing Lynden Gooch who dropped to the bench. Elliot Embleton replaced the injured Alex Pritchard whilst Jack Clarke started in place of Nathan Broadhead. Luke O’Nien and Jermaine Defoe both returned to the bench.
Before kick-off there was a minute’s applause for Michael Waggott the lifelong Sunderland fan who took ill in the lads’ last game who sadly died later in hospital.
After switching sides after the toss Sunderland kicked off kicking towards the North Stand. It was the visitors who had the first chance of the evening when Danny Andrew cut in from the left wing and forced Anthony Patterson into a low stop at his near post. A couple of minutes later the visitors had another opportunity when Morris drove into the box but Matete did well to get back and block his effort.
We then won a free kick in a dangerous position after Jack Clarke was fouled and Elliot Embleton whipped the set piece into the box, but Fleetwood cleared. A minute later we forced a corner which we took quickly with Roberts surging into the box, but he couldn’t pick out a pass and Fleetwood again cleared.
Just before the 15-minute mark we almost fashioned an opening when Matete clipped an inch perfect ball behind the Fleetwood backline. Ross Stewart managed to bring the ball down on the stretch with a decent touch but was slightly off balance allowing the defender to recover and clear.
After 20 minutes Corry Evans picked up a harsh yellow card for what looked like a good challenge just inside our half.
Sunderland fell behind after 28 minutes when a mistake from Bailey Wright allowed Ellis Harrison a sight of goal. Wright mishit a back pass under little pressure towards Patterson allowing Harrison to fire the ball past the keeper from just outside the box.
It was a poor first half performance from Alex Neil’s side looking very sluggish and conceding a sloppy goal. The atmosphere inside the SOL was also flat though it did almost lift on the stroke of half time when Jack Clarke weaved into the box riding a couple of challenges, but the keeper blocked his shot.
There was five minutes added on at the end of the first half and in the first of these Elliot Embleton forced the keeper into a save from just inside the box. We didn’t create anything else with Fleetwood happy to try and run down the clock at every opportunity before a chorus of boos greeted the half time whistle.
Unsurprisingly after a woeful first half showing the lads emerged for the second half early and Alex Neil made a double change with Xhemajli and Evans replaced by Gooch and Defoe. Sunderland started the second half a bit brighter and looked a bit more urgent getting a couple of crosses into the box.
Sunderland drew level ten minutes into the second period through Elliot Embleton after good work from Jack Clarke down the left. Matete picked out Clarke on the left who drove down the line and fired a shot towards goal from a tight angle. The keeper could only palm it clear as far as Embleton who bundled the ball into the back of the net.
With half an hour remaining Fleetwood went close to retaking the lead from a set piece from the edge of the box after Matete conceded a foul. Danny Andrew curled a left footed shot which looked destined for the top corner, but Patterson produced an important save diving to his left and tipping the ball clear. Ten minutes later Patterson was called into action again poor defending from Sunderland allowed Cian Hayes to find Gerard Garner in the box. Garner clipped a low shot towards the bottom corner, but Patterson was equal to it.
Luke O’Nien made his return from a shoulder injury with twenty minutes remaing replacing Patrick Roberts as Alex Neil made his final change of the evening. Dennis Cirkin picked up a yellow card for a late tackle five minutes later which prompted a bit of a melee.
Sunderland took the lead in the 82nd minute thanks to a great finish from the returning Luke O’Nien. The lads had broken forward in numbers with Ross Stewart playing the ball into the feet of Defoe who turned on the edge of the box and shot. His took a slight deflection off the defender but fell kindly into the path of O’Nien who clipped the ball into the bottom corner.
Having took the lead for the first time in the game Sunderland almost shot themselves in the foot immediately after a poor clearance from Carl Winchester fell to Carl Johnston. He played the ball infield to Paddy Lane who drew another smart save from Anthony Patterson.
Fleetwood were then reduced to ten men for the final stages of the game when Chiekh Thiam picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Ross Stewart. After a few stoppages, substitutions and time wasting from both sides there was eight minutes injury time added on by the officials.
In the first of these Sunderland sealed the points with Jack Clarke scoring a superb first goal from the club. Clarke cut in from the left before smashing an unstoppable shot past the keeper into the top right-hand corner. Clarke almost got a second a few minutes later when he followed in a Defoe shot what had been saved by the keeper, but he blazed over.
Final Score: Sunderland 3 Fleetwood Town 1 ALS Man of the Match: Jack Clarke
