New recruits put Cats on road to Wembley
SUNDERLAND are heading back to Wembley for their second cup final in five years.
Goals either side of half-time from January signings Will Grigg and Lewis Morgan saw them ease past Bristol Rovers and book a date with Portsmouth in the Checkatrade Trophy final at the end of the month.
The Black Cats were underdogs when they lost to big spenders Manchester City in the EFL Cup final in 2014, but this time they will head to the national stadium as favourites.
Just over 1,800 Sunderland fans made the trip to Bristol to see their side triumph in the pouring rain, with Grigg scoring his first goal from open play to set them on their way.
And when Morgan added the second soon after the interval, there was no way back for Rovers.
Jack Ross said he would name his strongest side in this competition so far and he was as good as his word, making only two changes to the side that started the weekend win over Plymouth Argyle.
Adam Matthews returned to the starting XI for the first time in almost a month, replacing Reece James at left-back.
And Max Power came into midfield in place of Lee Cattermole.
Neither James nor Cattermole were included on the bench.
But Ross did bring Jack Baldwin and Dylan McGeouch back into the squad, including them on the bench along with academy graduate Denver Hume who was involved for the first time since September.
Sunderland took the game to Rovers right from the whistle with George Honeyman seeing a shot blocked inside the first couple of minutes.
Aiden McGeady then brought a good save out of Jack Bonham when he cut into the box from the left and curled a shot goalwards with his right foot which the keeper did well to turn behind diving to his left, and from the resulting corner Tom Flanagan headed over the bar.
Grant Leadbitter also sent a shot narrowly over the top as Sunderland dominated the early stages.
Rovers gradually grew into the game and Jon McLaughlin made a double save on the halfhour, first to stop a shot from Jonson Clarke-Harris which skidded awkwardly off the turf in the slippery conditions, and then to block Sinclair’s followup effort.
Will Grigg had had little to work with in the first half but he only needed one chance to fire Sunderland in front a minute before the break.
Power’s excellent reverse pass found the striker inside the box on the left, his touch took him away from centre-backs Tom Lockyer and Tony Craig, and he slotted a low left-foot finish past Bonham.
Skipper Honeyman was forced off in added time at the end of the half after he was unable to run off a hip injury he picked a few minutes earlier, with Lynden Gooch replacing him.
And Sunderland doubled their lead just a couple of minutes after the restart with Gooch playing a major role.
It was his shot from the edge of the box that was pushed away by Bonham, and Morgan reacted first to reach the loose ball and applied the finish from six yards out.
Sunderland could have added a third soon after when McGeady’s shot was blocked and the ball bounced into the path of Power 25 yards out, he hit it first time and it needed a fine diving save from Bonham to push the strike away.
McLaughlin made a good stop to push an effort from Tareiq Holmes-Dennis away for a corner midway through the second half as Rovers pushed forward in search of a way back into the game.
But Sunderland’s defence held firm to keep a third successive clean sheet and ensure there were no nervy moments.