Stewart’s strike enough as Cats’ defence vital to sealing win
ROSS Stewart scored the only goal of the game as Sunderland saw off Stoke City to claim their second victory of the season.
The Black Cats had to work hard to secure the points at the bet365 Stadium against a physical Potters side, and at times they needed goalkeeper Anthony Patterson to come up with some crucial saves.
But Stewart’s third goal of the season came in first-half injury-time and – with Sunderland keeping their first clean sheet since returning to the Championship – that was enough to settle matters.
It was the perfect response to Sunderland’s midweek defeat at Sheffield United, which was their first setback since promotion.
And this win meant Alex Neil’s side climbed back up to fifth in the table, having collected eight points from their first five games of the campaign.
Neil was forced into one change to the line-up that started at Sheffield United, with midfielder Dan Neil sitting the game out through suspension after his red card at Bramall Lane and his place was taken by Jay Matete.
Stoke boss Michael O’neill made two changes, in his case to the side that drew 2-2 against Middlesbrough at the bet365 Stadium on Wednesday.
He brought in Liam Delap – son of former Sunderland man Rory – in place of ex-newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle, while Gavin Kilkenny replaced Sam Clucas in midfield.
Stoke penned Sunderland back in the early stages, putting the Black Cats under heavy pressure and with Delap dominating against centre-back Luke O’nien.
Delap outmuscled O’nien inside the opening five minutes but saw his shot blocked by ex-stoke man Danny Batth, before the ball came out to Tariqe Fosu and his effort was deflected behind off Dennis Cirkin for a corner.
From that corner, Ben Wilmot headed over the bar. And then on 11 minutes, only a brilliant fingertip save from Patterson to divert the ball over the bar prevented Jacob Brown giving the Potters the lead.
Patterson came to his side’s rescue
again when he got down to his left to push away a long-range free-kick from Lewis Baker.
Sunderland had to wait until midway through the first period for their first chance, when Lynden Gooch released Ellis Simms in the right-hand channel and he got into the box but sent his finish into the sidenetting.
At the other end, Patterson made a vital block with his legs to frustrate Brown on the half-hour. Two minutes into injury time, Sunderland made the breakthrough, taking the lead with their first shot on target.
Jack Clarke was the architect, picking up the ball midway inside his own half on the left-hand touchline and turning inside before clipping a pass over the home defence to release Stewart.
The Scotland international outpaced two defenders to get into the box and send his shot across Joe Bursik into the bottom left-hand corner, for a perfect end to the half.
Sunderland made a double change at the break, with Corry Evans and Bailey Wright replacing O’nien and Matete.
Early in the second half, Stewart and then Clarke saw shots blocked as Sunderland looked to continue where they had left off in the first period.
Pritchard sent a shot over the bar from inside the box, and then Simms fired narrowly wide when he should have done better after working space for himself in the area.
Evans then drew a save out of Bursik with a long-range, first-time effort which the keeper did well to push away for a corner diving to his right.
Inside the final 20 minutes, a quickly-taken free-kick saw the ball played to Simms inside the box and he teed up Embleton on the edge of the area, but he skewed his shot well wide.
Stoke sub Gayle should have equalised 10 minutes from time when Sunderland made a mess of defending a routine long ball, but he prodded his finish over the bar having done all the hard work. There were chances at both ends in the final few minutes.
First Patterson had to get down to claw away a dangerous ball inside the box, and it was scrambled away by his defence.
Then Stewart should have made the points safe when he rounded Bursik, but by the time he had collected the ball and turned back towards goal, the keeper had recovered and Wilmot was back on the line, and the big striker could only fire wide of the target as he tried to steer his shot around them and inside the far post.
But Sunderland saw out the remainder of the game to secure a hardfought victory.