New Year resolution can keep Cats at top
SUNDERLAND brought down the curtain on 2021 with a resounding 5-0 victory against Sheffield Wednesday on Wearside.
As the Black Cats head into 2022, their New Year’s resolution is a simple one: start as you mean to go on.
Because their win against Wednesday means they will start the New Year as League One leaders, two points clear of second-placed Rotherham United and four ahead of third-placed Wigan Athletic - albeit those clubs have one and three games in hand respectively which means they still have Sunderland within their sights.
Not only that but Ross Stewart’s first career hat-trick took him to 15 goals for the season, making him the division’s top scorer heading at the turn of the year.
No wonder Lee Johnson was beaming as the 34,000 crowd - the largest of the season so far at the Stadium of Light - applauded his team off at the final whistle.
Wednesday had arrived on Wearside on the back of a 12-game unbeaten run in the league, a run which included a 3-0 win against the Wearsiders at Hillsborough in early November when the Black Cats were going through a sticky patch.
Covid postponements meant Wednesday had gone 19 days without a game but while they started looking fresh by the end they were heavy-legged after an evening largely spent chasing shadows.
Sunderland’s opening goal came against the run of play and there was more than a whiff of offside about it, but the flag stayed down and Stewart raced on to Leon Dajaku’s throughball before coolly slotting his leftfoot shot past Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
Stewart struck again, this time with his right foot, ten minutes before half-time after Alex Pritchard had seized on a sloppy pass and then teed up the Scot.
Callum Doyle made it 3-0 five minutes later, heading home his first senior goal after Pritchard’s corner had been headed back across goal by Tom Flanagan.
Stewart completed his perfect hattrick with a header on the hour and Benji Kimpioka completed the rout when he came off the bench to score his first goal in more than two years 15 minutes from time.
Sunderland also created a hatful of other chances and could easily have added two or three more goals on the night but for some brilliant saves from Peacock-Farrell.
As it was, the 5-0 scoreline equalled the Black Cats’ biggest wins of the season and it is the third time in which they have won by such a margin, following the demolition of Cheltenham in late September and the hiding handed out to Morecambe in early December.
The difference is Cheltenham and Morecambe are newly-promoted sides trying to survive in League One, while Wednesday are targeting promotion back to the Championship after being relegated last season.
It was another victory which
underlines the Wearsiders’ credentials as title contenders.
Since that defeat at Hillsborough featured in a three-game losing streak, Sunderland have responded by going nine league games unbeaten, collecting 21 points out of a possible 27 - an achievement all the more impressive when the club’s lengthy injury list is taken into account.
With almost half a season still to play, Johnson was quick to remind everyone league positions at the turn of the year count for nothing and there remains a lot to do.
He is undoubtedly right about that but, if nothing else, winning in style to go top of the table ensured it will be a happy New Year on Wearside.