CATS HAPPY AT HOME AGAIN!
IN RECENT SEASONS, SOME SUNDERLAND PLAYERS WERE AFRAID TO PLAY AT THE STADIUM OF LIGHT IN FRONT
Sunderland started brightly enough.
Inhispost-matchremarks, Jack Ross said he was broadly pleased with the way his team went about their business in the opening exchanges.
They made the pitch big and tried to isolate their key players against the Bristol Rovers defenders.
They tried to force it just too match, snatching at the openings they were able to create.
Then the opponents scored.
Last season, this was a painfully familiar script.
The next act, as Netflix’s new documentary has painfully and forensically reminded us this week, was a flat collapse.
It is easy to forget that on this weekend last year, Sunderland won their first home game for over a year.
Yesterday, as it was then, Josh Maja’s finishing elevated his side and settled the contest.
That heady December afternoon had all hoping that a new era was under way, but Sunderland would go on to win just one more game at the Stadium of Light before the visit of Wolves on the final day of the season. The players seemed to have no belief and that inevitably seeped into the stands. In his pre-match programme notes, George Honeyman made these revealing remarks: “Last season you could tell that some of the players dreaded playing at home, which was so annoying because you knew that if you got it right, it could be a fortress. “I’ve been at the club a long time, and when it’s rocking, you can almost beat people in the tunnel before a ball is kicked.
“To have that record so far this season is testament to everyone at the club’s commitment to put things right, and for moving in the right direction.”
That record: 22 points from ten home games.
They have not been beaten and have recovered nine points from losing positions.
Clearly, they have benefited on occasions from the drop in quality and ruthlessness in the opponents they face.
Bristol Rovers missed a glorious opportunity to opening the scoring even before Alex Rodman made it 1-0, and a better side would have made more of the counter-attacking opportunities that Sunderland’s occasional lapses on the ball presented.
Their comeback was fair reward for their attacking intent and they created more than enough openings to win the game.
AsJackRoss said, they fought their way through the tricky period that followed Rodman’s goal and in a spell either side of half time, they were excellent and stretched the visitors.
Particularly at home, the trust Ross has in his attacking players is reaping rewards.
Both Aiden McGeady and Lynden Gooch had relatively long periods on the bench last year, and you sense it was the kind of frustrating opening to the game that was behind that.
Both lost the ball in dangerous areas but they persisted and came through, playing akeyhandasSunderlandfirst got back on level terms and then moved ahead.
Though at times the side can be guilty of trying to force the issue too quickly in possession, no one hides from the ball in tricky moments of the game and that is giving real belief to those watching that a win will eventually arrive.
Sunderland have not been perfect at home, far from it.
They have dropped points in frustrating fashion and it almost was again on Saturday as Steffan Payne hit the bar in the dying moments.
But Jack Ross was right to underline his team’s record after the game.
He was also right to point out that in the wretched conditions and given a number of late injury blows, getting a result was the only thing that mattered.
Sunderland ‘Til I Die has served as a timely reminder of the turnaround on home turf. The numbers don’t lie. The Stadium of Light is an asset again.