Praise for duo Aiden Blacks Cats victory
AIDEN O’Brien and substitute Aiden McGeady were on target as Sunderland booked their place in the quarter-finals of the EFL Trophy.
The Black Cats turned in a dominant display against League Two Port Vale at the Stadium of Light but it looked like O’Brien’s goal midway through the first half would settle matters.
But in the last of the six minutes of added time, sub Jack Diamond was brought down by goalkeeper Dino Visser and McGeady stepped up to convert and make the scoreline a fairer reflection of the game.
Sunderland twice hit the woodwork – in the first half when Lynden Gooch deflected a shot from Elliot Embleton onto the bar, and then in the second when Vale’s Danny Whitehead almost put through his own net but the post came to his rescue - as they pushed for more goals before McGeady struck.
And they now go through to the last eight of the competition.
As expected, Lee Johnson made a raft of changes to the side that drew against Hull City in the league at the weekend, with only four players retained from that line-up.
Max Power, Bailey Wright, Callum McFadzean, and Josh
Scowen were the men who kept their places.
But Remi Matthews replaced Lee Burge – who suffered a facial injury against Hull – in goal, with Jordan Willis returning from illness to take the place of on-loan Wolves defender Dion Sanderson, who is cup-tied.
Max Power dropped back from midfield to right-back in place of Conor McLaughlin, who went off injured against the Tigers. Embleton and Dan Neil came into midfield in place of Grant Leadbitter, who was on the bench, and to fill the gap left by Power. And there was also an entirely new front three, with Chris Maguire, Lynden Gooch, and Aiden O’Brien replacing Diamond, McGeady, and Charlie Wyke.
Port Vale’s interim boss Danny Pugh also made seven changes, in his case to the side that beat Grimsby Town at the weekend.
It was one-way traffic in the first-half, with Sunderland in total control. Embleton was brought down just inside the right-hand corner of the penalty area by Adam Crookes after only five minutes, but referee Declan Bourne awarded a free-kick just outside and Visser was grateful to collect Embleton’s dangerous set-piece, with Gooch only inches away from getting a toe to it and opening the scoring.
But Sunderland kept the pressure on and the Vale keeper made a good save to push a shot from Maguire wide for a corner, and from that he then saved Wright’s header.
The breakthrough came on 21 minutes when Gooch’s clever pass into the lefthand channel found O’Brien on the move inside the box and he diverted the ball past the oncoming Visser and it rolled across goal and just inside the far post.
Sunderland almost doubled their lead on the half-hour as a short corner on the right worked between Embleton and Power saw the ball returned to the youngster inside the area, but his shot deflected off Gooch just in front of the keeper and that sent it against the underside of the bar and it rebounded into Visser’s arms.
The woodwork came to Vale’s rescue for a second time early in the second half, sparing Danny Whitehead’s blushes when he turned a Maguire cross onto the post.
At the other end, Vale’s first shot of the match came just before the hour but Tom Conlon’s free-kick went wide of the right-hand post. Sunderland were still pressing for that second goal, and Gooch saw a shot deflected over for a corner.
Lee Johnson made a triple change with 20 minutes remaining, and almost immediately two of those substitutes almost produced that second goal.
McGeady crossed from the left and Wyke’s powerful downward header from close range brought a fine stop out of Visser. But Sunderland finally got it right at the death, when Diamond was tripped by Visser and while the keeper got a hand to McGeady’s spot-kick, he could not keep it out of the net.