Day the silence turned to anger for demoralised Sunderland fans

Sunderland 1 Cardiff City 2

ANOTHER match, another defeat.

Sunderland’s miserable run of form continued with a 2-1 defeat to Cardiff City yesterday.

Led by youngster Lynden Gooch, the Black Cats did at least show the fight to claw their way back into the game after conceding a feeble early goal to Craig Bryson, but it all counted for nothing when Joe Ralls converted a penalty of his own after Lamine Kone was adjudged to have pushed in the penalty area.

The Stadium of Light is a demoralising place to be and the fans are desperate for Ellis Short to sell up but the two look stuck with one another for the foreseeable future, with the American unable to find a credible buyer in the summer. What lesson can Sunderland draw then, from another afternoon they would much rather forget? The Black Cats’ latest defeat, their fifth in seven matches, dropped them Bryan Oviedo hit the woodwork into the Championship relegation zone after Brentford won 3-0 at Bolton.

With 37 games to go, it is hardly time for panic stations, but this is a reminder of the tough task facing Simon Grayson’s demoralised side, who last won a home match on December 17.

Not since Sam Allardyce’s team beat Chelsea in May 2016 have the Black Cats come from behind to win a game. Although Lynden Gooch’s penalty briefly gave them something to cling onto, it was once again ‘first goal the winner’ at the Stadium of Light.

Perhaps because he had far more destructive than creative players available, Simon Grayson opted for three – or in this case five – at the back.

It was the third time this season Grayson has fielded three central defenders, Carlisle United and Sheffield United being the others. On all three occasions he has changed shape during the game.

This time it lasted lass than half an hour before the manager saw it was not working and changed it. Credit to Grayson for not hanging about when he saw a problem; less credit for picking the wrong line-up in the first place.

Bryan Oviedo is capable of getting forward and causing problems as a wing-back, as shown by his 43rd-minute shot against the post – although that came when he had drifted inside from his new position as an orthodox left-sided midfielder on the other side. Adam Matthews, though, is definitely There was little for the home fans to more full-back than wing-back. There is no such thing as a “wrong” formation, but that one does not seem to be right for Sunderland just now, with injuries to Jonny Williams and Callum McManaman having hit them harder than two mishaps ought to have.

The atmosphere when Craig Bryson found the back of the net after just seven minutes was telling. Apart from the pocket of 643 away supporters up in the north stand gods there was

DUNCAN Watmore is set to take another step towards a first-team return when he plays for Sunderland’s U23s against West Ham at Eppleton at noon today. The forward is slated to play at least 45 minutes as the Black Cats take on the Hammers in Premier League 2, eight days after scoring on his comeback for the U23s at Manchester City after nine months out of action following cruciate ligament surgery. Sunderland boss Simon Grayson desperately needs Watmore back in the first-team fold to boost his side’s flagging fortunes. But he is determined not to risk rushing Watmore after such a serious injury, and expects the 23-year-old will not be ready to start league games until mid-October. Grayson said: “Duncan came through that game [against Man City] fine. We had a plan this week of what training he would do and we have stuck to that. “He will hopefully get another 45-60 minutes on Sunday for the U23s against West Ham and we’ll see where we go from there.” Grayson gave 20-year-old midfielder Ethan Robson his senior debut in the midweek Carabao Cup defeat at Everton, and followed that by handing him his league debut in the defeat against Cardiff – both appearances coming from the bench. And Grayson says he has been impressed by the academy graduate, who captains the U23 side. He said: “I’ve liked what I have seen. Ethan played quite a few pre-season games for us and has been doing well for the U23s. “It was going to be a toss-up between him and Elliot Embleton as to who was going to be involved [at Everton], and Ethan had done well in our last few sessions and in the games he had been involved in so I gave him the opportunity. “I didn’t know that he hadn’t made his debut, to be honest. “As he came on, I asked him if this was his debut and he just had this big grin on his face and he said ‘yeah’. “It’s a night he will never forget.”