Black Cats fail to count as top-six
SUNDERLAND dropped two precious points on the road as they failed to put away their chances against struggling Charlton Athletic.
The Black Cats created enough opportunities to have won two or three games, but could not make them count at The Valley.
Goalkeeper Craig Macgillivray made several good saves, and when he was beaten by Dennis Cirkin a goalline clearance came to his rescue.
Sunderland also sent a number of chances narrowly wide, with leading scorer Ross Stewart heading the wrong side of the post on a couple of occasions.
The draw means Sunderland failed to clock up their first backto-back wins of 2022, while for Charlton it halted their fivegame losing streak. Alex Neil’s side has slipped one place to seventh in the table.
Nathan Broadhead returned, making his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in Sunderland’s Carabao Cup quarter-final exit at Arsenal the week before Christmas.
The Everton loanee’s inclusion at the expense of Elliot Embleton was the only change to the side that won at Wigan Athletic last weekend.
But Callum Doyle, who was rested at Wigan, was back in the squad although he had to settle for a place on the bench, alongside Embleton. Charlton boss Johnnie Jackson made four changes to the side that lost at
Sheffield Wednesday last weekend – a defeat that extended the Addicks’ losing streak to five games.
January signing Scott Fraser made his full debut, while Jason Pearce, Diallang Jaiyesimi, and Jayden Stockley also came into the side, with Akin Famewo, Albie Morgan, Alex Gilbey, and ex-sunderland man Adam Matthews dropping out.
Sunderland dominated the first half, controlling possession and creating a series of chances, but without getting their noses in front. Early in the game, Stewart rose to meet an Alex
Pritchard corner but sent his header straight at Macgillivray. And the goalkeeper made a better save on the quarter-hour to keep out a header from Cirkin, this time from a Lynden Gooch cross, and Stewart glanced the resulting corner narrowly wide.
Stewart had a couple of other headed chances in the first period, but again he directed them off-target. Broadhead was lively on his return and won a freekick just outside the box, which Pritchard took and his shot was tipped over the bar by Macgillivray. Charlton had offered next-to-nothing in the first period but they did carve out a chance on the stroke of halftime, although Stockley headed wide from an Elliott Lee cross. The pattern remained the same in the second half, with Sunderland continuing to ask the questions.
Pritchard’s wonderful pass with the outside of his foot released Broadhead in the lefthand channel, but when he worked space for a shot inside the area his effort was blocked. And then another clever ball from Pritchard found Cirkin in space inside the area on the left, his low shot beat the keeper but
centre-back Chris Gunter got back in the nick of time to clear off the line. The hosts went close with a rare chance just after the hour, when Sam Lavelle met a Lee free-kick but his header went just wide of the left-hand post. Sunderland suffered a blow 15 minutes from time when Pritchard hobbled off after a heavy challenge.
But his replacement Embleton picked up where he had left off, threading a pass through for Stewart only for the Scot’s low shot to be pushed away by Macgillivray. And then in the fifth minute of injury-time, Charlton had a chance to steal all three points when Lee’s free kick came into the box and Stockley lashed his shot across the face of goal, with a home player sliding in at the far post just unable to divert it home.