Sunderland were knocked out of the FA Cup after losing a thrilling cup tie 3-2 to Fulham at the SOL on Wednesday evening.
The lads started slowly and were fortunate to be only one goal behind at the break after Harry Wilson opened the scoring. However, Tony Mowbray’s side improved in the second half only to concede a second against the run of play through Andreas Pereira before Jack Clarke pulled a goal back ten minutes from time. Fulham looked to have sealed the game five minutes later through Layvin Kurzawa only for Jewison Bennette to set up a frantic finish with a goal in injury time, but the lads couldn’t muster an equaliser.
Tony Mowbray made one change from the side that drew with Millwall at the weekend with the cup-tied Joe Gelhardt replaced by Abdoullah Ba. Meanwhile the visitors made nine changes from the side that ground out a goalless draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Friday night whilst manager Marco Silva served a one match touchline ban.
The visitors got the game underway kicking towards their supporters in the North Stand, and they had the first chance of the game when Duffy played a ball over the Sunderland defence, but Dan Ballard made a great challenge to deny Manor Solomon.
Two minutes later Fulham did take the lead after sloppy defending from Sunderland. Firstly, Patrick Roberts’ headed clearance at the back post was weak before the ball eventually fell to Carlos Vinicius who held off a half-hearted challenge from Alese. Vinicius laid the ball off to Harry Wilson who stabbed a low left footed shot into the bottom corner past Patterson who got a touch but was beaten by the pace of the ball.
It took Sunderland almost 20 minutes to have a noteworthy venture into the Fulham half with Ba breaking forward with a good run before he found Amad just inside the box. Amad checked back onto his left foot before playing the ball to Patrick Roberts who had raced into the box, but his shot was mishit, and Fulham cleared.
Five minutes later Fulham had another good chance but again the lads were guilty of giving the visitors a helping hand. A loose ball from Roberts was seized upon by Wilson and he strode forward unchallenged and though space opened up on the edge of the box his left footed shot was tame and easily gathered by Patterson.
On the half hour mark Fulham and Wilson had another chance to score again after Cairney broke through the middle and found Wilson. Wilson cut in from the right unchallenged but curled his shot wide of the post.
At the other end Sunderland did eventually start to show their teeth with Ba seeing a long range shot blocked before Amad had a decent effort. Amad was found on the edge of the box by Roberts before unleashing a powerful shot towards goal which swerved and dipped forcing Rodak into an awkward save.
Though Sunderland did improve in the closing stages of the first half the visitors went in one goal ahead and had they been more clinical it would have been more, so the lads were fortunate to still be in the game.
The visitors made a double change at the break with Mitrovic and Pereira replacing Vinicius and Harris before the lads restarted the game. Five minutes into the restart Jack Clarke did well cutting in from the left and dancing into the box but he couldn’t create space for a shot and though Sunderland did keep moving the ball Fulham eventually cleared the ball.
Fulham then broke at pace with Wilson finding Cairney, but he dragged a shot from the edge of the box wide. Sunderland then had a couple of good passages of play first Trai Hume found Dan Neil just outside the box where the midfielder clipped a shot just wide. Then a couple of minutes later Jack Clarke done well on the left before playing the ball infield for Roberts who glided past a couple of challenges in the box before seeing his shot saved by the keeper.
Two minutes after that Sunderland went close again after a superb move from Sunderland. Patrick Roberts produced a sublime piece of skill on the edge of the box before playing a clever ball into the path of Amad. He drove into the box before checking back and firing a low shot past the keeper, but Shane Duffy cleared the ball off the line.
However, after looking most likely to score next Sunderland were hit on the counterattack with Fulham doubling their lead through Pereira with half an hour remaining. The two substitutes combined after Patterson had done well to deny Mitrovic, but he kept the loose ball alive hooking it back across goal for Pereira to slot into the back of the net.
Sunderland then had a shout for a penalty waved away after Mitrovic appeared to bundle over Neil in the box before Tony Mowbray made a double change with Roberts and Neil replaced by Pritchard and O’Nien.
They were soon followed onto the pitch by Bennette and Ekwah who replaced Amad and Michut. They were both soon involved in the action with Bennette having a run and shot blocked then a minute or so later Ekwah dragged a shot wide.
With fifteen minutes left Mitrovic and Pereira linked up again well with Mitrovic teeing up his partner on the edge of the box, but he blazed over with his left foot. A minute later Sunderland got a goal back through a brilliant strike from Jack Clarke.
Aje Alese and Alex Pritchard combined well on the left before Alese cut the ball back for Clarke in the box. The winger took a touch before curling an unstoppable shot into the top right-hand corner to give the lads some hope.
Tony Mowbray then introduced 15-year-old Chris Rigg at the expense of Abdoullah Ba as Sunderland looked to salvage the tie. However, Fulham soon restored their two-goal advantage through Layvin Kurzawa when he pounced at a corner to slam a left footed volley past Anthony Patterson after Sunderland failed to clear the danger.
In the first minute of injury time Jewison Bennette capitalised on a mistake in the Fulham defence with a terrific left footed finish to set up a frenzied finish. There was four minutes of injury time and although Sunderland forced a corner which saw Anthony Patterson go up for it, we couldn’t find a goal to send the game to extra time.
Final Score – Sunderland 2 Fulham 3
ALS Man of the Match – Amad Diallo
