BLACK CATS GET BACK ON TRACK
JACK ROSS praised the contribution of midfielder Lee Cattermole as his Sunderland team moved into third place in the table with a fiercely fought win at Bradford City in front of a bumper 19,487 Valley Parade crowd in which both teams had a player sent off.
The visitors’ skipper, Max Power was dismissed in the 66th minute, and Bradford winger Sean Scannell was also shown a red card in the seven minutes referee Anthony Backhouse added on at the end of the match. It was Power’s second red card of the season, which means he now misses four matches.
Sunderland went in front after 20 minutes through Josh Maja after the home side failed to clear Aiden McGeady’s cross although the Bradford players claimed a handling offence in the build-up
Bradford equalised after 51 minutes when Kelvin Mellor’s long throw was headed on first by Nat Knight-Percival and then by Ryan McGowan for Anthony O’Connor to hook the ball into the at the far post.
However, Jack Baldwin restored Sunderland’s lead two minutes later. The Bradford defence failed to clear Chris Maguire’s free kick and Baldwin scored with a low shot into the corner.
Bradford were handed the chance for a second equaliser when they were awarded a penalty after Power first fouled Jack Payne and was then was sent off for kicking out while he was on the ground. However, former Bradford keeper Jon Mclaughlin saved Payne’s spot kick and then diverted his follow-up shot for a corner.
Sunderland are one of the favourites to gain promotion after suffering two relegations in two seasons and Ross believes Cattermole – their longest serving player and a survivor from their Premier League days – has a key role to play.
Ross said: “Lee is loving his football and he deserves his enjoyment. He is a big part of this club and he is going to be a very important player for us. He is a fantastic professional for me every single day, and he is desperate to get this club promoted.
“After we went down to 10 men, the last 20 minutes were all about courage and guts and our substitutes helped us in that period of the game.”
Bradford head coach David Hopkin said: “We started the game brightly and matched them. I was disappointed with their first goal – the players thought it was handball. Then we equalised and then we switched off for five minutes and they scored again, but you are always vulnerable when you have scored. Credit to the players, they are disappointed. I don’t think we deserved to win the game, but we did deserve a point.”