Powerful Cats leave Iron too weak to fight
SUNDERLAND blew away Scunthorpe United inside 45 minutes to extend their unbeaten start to the season and climb to fourth place in the League One table.
Max Power headed his first goal for the club midway through the first period, with Josh Maja netting his third goal in as many games soon after, and Chris Maguire opened his account for the club with a clever flick just before the break.
It was the first time Sunderland had gone in at half-time with a three-goal lead on Wearside since September 2011, when they were on their way to a 4-0 win over Stoke City.
This win made it seven points from their first three games for Jack Ross’ side, and also saw the Black Cats complete back-to-back league wins at the Stadium of Light for the first time since December 2016.
After making half-a-dozen changes for the Carabao Cup tie in midweek, Ross reverted back to virtually the same starting XI that began in the last league game at Luton Town.
That meant Maja, Glenn Loovens, Bryan Oviedo, Lynden Gooch, and Adam Matthews all came back into the side, at the expense of Alim Ozturk, Denver Hume, Reece James, Elliot Embleton, and Luke O’Nien.
The only change to that side at Kenilworth Road saw Lee Cattermole retain his place, having replaced Bali Mumba for the cup game.
Scunthorpe United boss Nick Daws also made changes for the cup and went back to a similar side to the one that drew at home to Walsall last weekend in the league.
Sunderland poured forward from the word go, with Maguire forcing Rory Watson into an early save, Bryan Oviedo seeing an effort deflected wide, and Maja nodding wide from the resulting corner, all in the first five minutes.
And after a spell of one-way traffic, it was Power who set the ball rolling when he headed home from Oviedo’s precision left-wing cross in the 22nd minute.
The celebrations had barely died down when Maja doubled Sunderland’s lead three minutes later, collecting Oviedo’s pass just inside the area, rolling his marker, and then firing a right-footed shot which beat Watson’s dive and found the bottom left-hand corner.
Jack Baldwin could have notched his first goal for the club when he met Lynden Gooch’s right-wing corner but his initial header was blocked and the keeper managed to turn his follow-up shot around the post.
But the third goal did arrive three minutes before the break when Gooch breezed his way to the byline on the right inside the area and cut the ball back for Maguire, who allowed it to run past him before flicking it home with his heel from close range.
Five minutes into the second period, Power almost added his second and Sunderland’s fourth when Oviedo’s cross was only cleared as far as the midfielder 25 yards from goal but his volley flew a yard over the top right-hand corner.
Scunthorpe’s former Newcastle man James Perch picked up a slack pass in midfield and tried his luck from fully 35 yards, but his effort was straight at Jon McLaughlin.
Cattermole headed over from a Gooch corner midway through the half and, in the final 10 minutes, Maja somehow missed from four yards with the goal at his mercy.
But Sunderland had done the hard work in the first half, and they made sure they did enough in the second to preserve not only their clean sheet but also their energy ahead of two difficult away trips to Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon.