O’NIEN SEALS IT FOR CLASSY CATS
SUNDERLAND maintained their bright start in League One as two second-half goals wrapped up victory at Shrewsbury Town.
An own goal from Omar Beckles broke the deadlock just before the hour and substitute Luke O’Nien added a late second to lift Sunderland up to third place.
The opener came shortly after Sunderland manager Jack Ross had turned to the bench to introduce Lynden Gooch and George Honeyman. Then O’Nien also contributed after being sent on.
Ross said: “We kind of knew we would make changes early into the half. Leaving George and Lynden out is a big decision for me anyway because they’ve both been really good for me and they both bring certain dynamics to my team that I like, so it was great to have them come off the bench and those two plus Luke obviously made a big contribution to us winning the game.”
Shrewsbury’s Shaun Whalley saw his curling free-kick bounce up against the bar in a goalless first half, while visiting captain Lee Cattermole volleyed over for Sunderland.
The breakthrough arrived in the 58th minute when Beckles turned a low cross from the right by Gooch into his own net.
Shrewsbury goalkeeper Joel Coleman needed to be alert to push away a Chris Maguire shot before the hosts, chasing an equaliser, twice went close as headers from Beckles and Aaron Amadi-Holloway were both just off target.
Sunderland added a late second six minutes from time when O’Nien drilled a low shot past Coleman.
Ross added: “There were bits of today that have pleased me more than other times when we have played a lot better just because we’re getting much better at doing the other side of the game that you need to do in this league. Today we showed that again. It wasn’t the prettiest game, it wasn’t an easy game, we didn’t expect it to be, but we toughed it out and we kept a clean sheet and that’s important.”
It was Shrewsbury’s first home League One defeat since the opening day of the season and came in front of just over 9,000, their biggest home crowd this term.
Shrewsbury manager John Askey said: “I saw that the players gave everything that they’ve got. I thought for most of the game we competed really well with Sunderland, limited them to very few chances.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed with the goal that we gave away because I don’t think they’d really done much up until then. To concede that from an own goal was a bit of a kick in the teeth really when we’d stopped them from playing.
“In the final third we just need that little bit of extra quality at times when we were breaking free.”
SHREWSBURY TOWN: Coleman 6, Emmanuel 6, Sadler 6, Waterfall 6, Beckles 6, Docherty 6, Grant 6, Laurent 6 (Holloway 69, 6), Whalley 6 (Noburn 77, 6), Angol 6, Gilliead 6 (Haynes 69, 6). Subs not used: Okenabirhie, Bolton, Arnold, Barnett.
SUNDERLAND: McLaughlin 7, Matthews 7, Baldwin 7, Flanagan 7, James 7, McGeouch 7, Maguire 7, Cattermole , McGeady 8 (Honeyman 57, 6), Sinclair 7 (O’Nien 82, 7), Maja 7 (Gooch 54, 6). Not used: Ozturk, Ruiter, Mumba, Mgunga-Kimpioka.