Battle for the points takes on a whole new meaning...
Wycombe Wanderers 1 Sunderland 1
SUNDERLAND came away from an utterly crazy game at Adams Park with their unbeaten run stretched to 17 games but that did not tell even half the story.
The good news for the Black Cats was that they escaped a below-par performance without their third league defeat of the season.
There was far more to a feisty game that just that, and it exploded in 12 added minutes which saw all sorts of drama, the upshot of which is likely to run for some time yet.
Here are some of the day’s many talking points.
POOR PERFORMANCE, GREAT SPIRIT KEEPS RECORD INTACT
For some time now Sunderland have been the only team in England to have scored in every league game this season.
It looked like that run was about to come to an end, taking the Black Cats’ 16-match unbeaten run with it, only for Duncan Watmore to score a 94thminute equaliser.
The substitute was quickest to react when goalkeeper Ryan Allsop parried Grant Leadbitter’s shot, and found the net.
They were lucky because a Tom Flanagan header against the woodwork and a Jimmy Dunne header which were saved were the only threats the visitors had really posed up to that IT was an extraordinary pantomime of a game, but ultimately Sunderland got what they needed from it — a point, despite being well below their best.
Whether everything else works out so well, we will have to wait on the fitness bulletins and the news from the disciplinary panels.
For at least four people on the benches to have cards waved in their direction and two players to be sent off after they had been substituted summed up a manic afternoon.
That Sunderland finished the side with nine men was entirely point.
The drama though.
Three players were sent off in added time, and only one was on the field.
Sunderland finished with nine men after Tom Flanagan and Duncan Watmore went off injured following all three substitutions. Centre-back Flanagan looked groggy after taking an unintentional boot to the head from Alex Samuel, and Watmore had his head in his hands, clearly in some distress as he limped off after the wild challenge which earned Marcus Bean a second yellow card.
George Honeyman and Luke Bolton had already been sent off after a free-for-all between both benches when the ball went out of play in the fifth added down to injuries, not the indiscipline happening on the sideline.
From very early on it was clear referee Lee Swabey did not have a firm grip on proceedings. A red card looked inevitable, but anyone who at that stage correctly predicted the carnage to come in stoppage time would have been given a comfy jacket with straps around the back.
Sunderland were already irate after a couple of hefty “Welcome back to Adams Park” tackles on Luke O’nien, and soon after for a dive which went unpunished when the right-back put in a tackle of his had barely started, own. Pulling the play back for a firsthalf head injury then watching Matt Bloomfield receive treatment to a knee was hardly a highlight either.
It was a day for cool heads but by the end there were none to be found.
Unused substitute Jack Baldwin was booked late in the second half for running onto the pitch to return the ball for a quick restart as his side chased an equaliser that did not look like it was coming.
Swabey’s heavy-handedness was more fuel to the fire.
Sunderland were reduced to ten men before the red cards even left his minute. It seemed to be kicking off in the tunnel as both headed down it. Earlier, unused substitute Jack Baldwin was booked for running on to the field to try to speed up a restart at 1-0! Honeyman could now be suspended for the Football League Trophy final unless Sunderland can somehow get the decision overturned. In the angry mass of pocket, Tom Flanagan groggily leaving the field after a high Alex Samuel boot caught him in the head.
Given the amount of time Flanagan was down, on top of lengthy treatment to Wycombe Wanderers goalkeeper Ryan Allsop, not to mention the other stoppages through time-wasting and thumping tackles, Sunderland assistant James Fowler was unhappy when the number of added minutes signalled by fourth official Christopher Wade was only six.
In the end they played 12, on top of five in the first half. The paying