JONES JUGGERNAUT
Relief for Carvalhal as 25-yard stunner holds up Sunderland charge
Two of the most under pressure clubs in the Championship fought out a draw that satisfied both — up to a point. Simon Grayson felt Sunderland should have ‘put the game to bed’ in the first half. Carlos Carvalhal said wednesday’s second half deserved victory. Both were entitled to their view but neither could convincingly dispute the result was fair.
without a win and the natives becoming restless, wednesday recovered well from a nightmare start, thanks to a simply sensational strike from David Jones.
Sunderland had to grind out a draw from that moment midway through the second half.
‘You can’t see fantasy football all the time,’ said Grayson, whose side stay unbeaten. ‘You’ve got to dig deep at a difficult place and it was a valuable point.’
Carvalhal argued: ‘In my opinion we deserved to win with the chances we created against a strong team.’
A rousing finale almost saw the owls roared to victory, with Gary Hooper hitting the bar, but Sunderland held on.
An early goal for Sunderland seemed to have set the tone. It was a first in the league for George Honeyman less than a week after he opened his account with Sunderland’s winner in the Carabao Cup at Bury. It came after a positional error by keeper Keiren westwood, which was exploited by Aiden McGeady’s cross and Honeyman lashed into an unguarded net.
More could have followed. Grayson admitted: ‘If we’d taken our chances I think we’d have won. Jones’s great goal got their tails up.’
Jones’s strike was stunning — the sort of effort for which the term ‘screamer’ was invented.
with no warning, he let fly, leftfooted, from at least 25 yards and no keeper was going to stop it. only the net could hold his shot — just. It was the midfielder’s first for the club and one he will never forget.
wednesday are carrying high expectations. However, there is a strong relationship between Carvalhal and owner Dejphon Chansiri. If any manager is given a sensible amount of time, it will be this one. Carvalhal also continued to take a strong line on Fernando Forestieri, omitting him from the squad for the second match running following a training-ground bust-up with Sam winnall, who was promoted to the starting line-up.
And winnall nearly got on the scoresheet himself before Jones’s wonder goal earned a point.