Black Cats suffer yet another humiliation
MATCH ANALYSIS: Scunthorpe 3 Sunderland 0
SUNDERLAND are out of the EFL Trophy after suffering their second abject humiliation in the space of a week in this competition.
The Black Cats – last season’s beaten finalists – ended with 10 men as they were put to the sword by a Scunthorpe United side that currently lies 21st in League Two.
Sunderland would have booked their place in the knockout stages had they beaten Leicester City’s U21s last week but were beaten on Wearside. They would still have gone through had they beaten the Iron.
But instead they turned in another toothless, gutless, performance which saw the few travelling fans who stayed until the final whistle chant “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” at their team.
Luke O’Nien was sent off for a professional foul midway through the second half, conceding a penalty in the process which was converted by Newcastle-born Lee Novak.
Abo Eisa added a second goal a couple of minutes from time before former Gateshead man Novak headed his second and Scunthorpe’s third in injury time. This was not a scratch side. Phil Parkinson made five changes to the side that started the weekend FA Cup first round draw against Gillingham at the Stadium of Light, but he still fielded a strong team.
Jon McLaughlin is away on international duty with Scotland and his place was taken by Lee Burge, who was making his comeback from the thigh injury he suffered at Shrewsbury last month. Conor McLaughlin is away with Northern Ireland and O’Nien dropped back into defence to replace him, with Grant Leadbitter filling the vacancy in midfield.
Denver Hume missed the weekend game with a virus but he returned in place of Laurens De Bock. Duncan Watmore came in for Chris Maguire, and Marc McNulty started up front in place of Will Grigg.
Scunthorpe United boss Paul Hurst also made five changes, in his case to the side that was thrashed 4-1 at Crawley in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Jordan Clarke, Abo Eisa, Jacob Bedeau, John McAtee, and Novak, came into the starting XI, in place of Andy Butler, Jamie Proctor, Yann Songo’o, Ryan Colclough and Kevin van Veen.
Sunderland were denied what looked a clear-cut penalty inside the first five minutes when O’Nien was sent sprawling by Junior Brown’s clumsy challenge, but referee Darren Handley saw nothing untoward.
The Black Cats knocked the ball around well in the early part of the game and could have gone in front after a quick free-kick released McNulty inside the box. Goalkeeper Jake Eastwood came out to meet him and found himself in no-man’s land, but when McNulty teed up Watmore on the edge of the box, his shot dropped over the bar.
As the half wore on, Scunthorpe grew in confidence and Novak sent a shot narrowly over the top.
John McAtee’s chip into the area set up a chance for former Newcastle United man James Perch, but he smashed his crossshot wide.
Burge made a fine save to bat Alex Gilliead’s shot around the post just before half-time, and from the resulting corner, Perch’s goalbound header was headed up and over by O’Nien just in front of the goalline.
Sunderland made a change at half-time when De Bock replaced Joel Lynch, presumably because the centre-back had picked up an injury.
The Black Cats finally forced Eastwood into a save shortly before the hour when he had to make a smart block from
McNulty, who had fired in a shot from a tight angle.
But at the other end, they had an escape when a mistake by George Dobson allowed Eisa to get away down the left, but the midfielder did well to recover and his challenge forced the Scunthorpe man to shoot wide. Eisa’s pace was causing Sunderland problems and it led to their undoing on 66 minutes. A long ball into the channel released the wide man and when he got into the penalty area, he was brought down by O’Nien, with referee Handley pointing straight to the spot. O’Nien was also shown a straight red card. Novak tucked away the spot-kick, sending Burge the wrong way.
With a man advantage, Scunthorpe ran rings around Sunderland for the final 20 minutes and Eisa should have killed the game off, only to be denied by Burge who used his legs to block the close-range effort.
But Eisa did get the goal he deserved on 88 minutes when he fired home from close range on the turn following a corner. And Novak added insult to injury when he headed home the third two minutes into injury time.
Novak tucked away the spot-kick and added insult to injury when he headed home the third two minutes into injury time