Neil: Cat’s the way to take us up
By IAN MURTAGH at the Stadium of Light IN-FORM Sunderland romped to their biggest win under boss Alex Neil as they stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games.
And this time, they didn’t need any last-gasp heroics to polish off 10-man Cambridge.
The Black Cats have collected the vast majority of their points in recent weeks with late goals but they had this game wrapped up by half-time.
In fact, the visitors had a mountain to climb from the moment Lloyd Jones was sent off in the 12th minute for flattening Ross Stewart as they challenged for a bouncing ball.
The Scot despatched the resulting penalty for his first goal in nine games and Sunderland were up and running.
“We could have scored double figures the amount of chances we had,” said Neil, who can clinch a play-off spot on Tuesday against Rotherham.
“From minute one, I thought we were great and moved the ball really well.
“We had a clear plan and the lads carried it out magnificently.
“There were excellent performances across the pitch.”
The floodgates appeared to have opened when Elliot
Embleton doubled the lead on 29 minutes, curling in a right-foot free-kick from an acute angle.
But the U’s immediately reduced the deficit with a smart finish from midfielder Paul Digby.
It proved a false dawn for Mark Bonner’s side, however as Stewart restored Sunderland’s two-goal advantage six minutes later.
The outstanding Lynden Gooch found him with a cross from the right and the striker swivelled before sweeping home.
In-form Nathan Broadhead could have had a first-half hat-trick but was twice denied by keeper Dimitar Mitov and glanced a header wide while the Cambridge keeper also thwarted Patrick Roberts and Stewart with fine saves.
Broadhead didn’t have to wait too long to get his name on the scoresheet, meeting Gooch’s pinpoint cross with a bullet header eight minutes after the restart.
Jubril Okedina should have scored a second for Cambridge midway through the second half but blasted over from close range.
At the other end, Danny Batth made no mistake with a stooping 72nd minute header from Robert’s centre.
It was hardly the way Bonner wanted to mark his 100th league game in charge of Cambridge but he admitted his side were well beaten.
And Bonner said: “Sunderland were dominant and could have scored a few more.
“But after the sending off, a difficult task became almost impossible.
“It was probably a penalty but I felt the red card was harsh because it wasn’t a goal-scoring opportunity.”