Evans says Sunderland history was key to striker’s recall

Steve Evans admits Mikael Mandron’s Sunderland history was the key to his decision to throw the striker back into the starting XI on Saturday.

Mandron joined Gillingham in the summer from Colchester United.

But, despite being a regular in the first half of the season, the January arrival of John Akinde from Lincoln City has seen his recent gametime limited.

Mandron had started just two of Gillingham’s fixtures in 2020 before Saturday, making his brace of goals all the more remarkable.

The former Black Cats academy player rescued a point in the 96th minute when it looked as if Sunderland had done enough to secure three vital points in the push for automatic promotion.

Evans also paid tribute to substitute Olly Lee for his role in the equaliser.

Lee is the son of former Newcastle United midfielder Rob.

He is on loan from Hearts and scored at the Stadium of Light in the FA Cup earlier this season.

“I think the first one is just a long throw, there's a wee bit of a stramash and Mika does well to pass it in,” Evans said.

“It's a good finish, and the second goal is a great finish.

“Credit to Olly Lee, he's probably the only player in our team who can have that composure to jockey two players and then pass it in to Mika. “It's a fantastic finish.” Evans added: “I've told him how pleased I am for him.

“He was brokenhearted to leave Sunderland.

“When we drew them in the cup he thought he'd won the lottery, so it was an easy decision to start him.”

Evans urged the 25-yearold to replicate his form against other sides as they look to keep their faint play-off hopes alive.

“I've been there as a kid,” he said.

“You're brokenhearted when a club pass you on and let you go.

“They do it for the right reasons but it doesn't stop you wanting to go back there and doing something that says, 'there you go'.

“He's got that quality, but he has to do that against that other teams as well as Sunderland.”