DJ TURNS THE TABLES
Black Cats denied win by Jones’ wonder strike
Sheffield Wed 1 Sunderland 1 BY SIMON BIRD
DAVID JONES conjured up a wonder goal to rescue a point for the Owls.
He thumped in from 25 yards to ruin Sunderland’s good work.
It was a sweet strike, although keeper Jason Steele might have done better, and sparked a late revival for the home side but the crossbar denied Gary Hooper a winner.
The visitors squandered chances, dominated in attack for an hour and would have been disappointed to let their lead slip.
They were ahead within four minutes when George Honeyman gathered an Aiden McGeady cross unmarked in the box and had time to control and volley through the defenders on the line. It has been a poor start to the season for Carlos Carvalhal’s Owls, who went into this game with a single point from two games, and defending like this will not help their cause.
After summer upheaval and financial restraint since relegation in May, Simon Grayson will do well to get Sunderland to the play-offs. Yet his down to earth attitude and experience appear to have galvanised a club that was in freefall.
His problem now may be keeping top-earners such as Lamine Kone and Didier Ndong, who previously looked unattractive assets.
McGeady was billed as having the X-factor Sunderland need, and he delivered against one of his former clubs, setting up the goal, but the Black Cats need to be more ruthless.
Wednesday’s response was for Sam Winnall to force a good save from Steele from 10 yards.
Lewis Grabban should have done better than head wide from McGeady’s freekick and after the break James Vaughan should have scored but his volley was off-target. Those missed chances came back to haunt Sunderland.