Stewart’s double delight on a top day for Wearmen
WITH typical restraint, Jamie McAllister declined the invitation to revel in Sunderland’s lofty league position following their win against Wycombe Wanderers.
“We are on top at the moment but we want to be top after 46 games, not after five,” was the assistant head coach’s take on the situation as he took on media duties in place of Lee Johnson.
He is right, of course.
Sitting pretty going into September is one thing - doing so in May at the end of a gruelling season is quite another.
For now, Sunderland - and their fans. who sang ‘we are top of the league’ throughout the second half - are content to live in the moment. Who can blame them?
This is, after all, the first time the club has sat atop the League One table since descending into the third tier in 2018.
Or, if you want to quibble, since they did so for two hours on the opening day of the 2018-19 season after winning against Charlton Athletic in the lunchtime kick-off.
It is also the first time they have even been in the top two since April 2019.
So they deserve to enjoy the view from the summit, even though they may well be displaced next weekend - their fixture against second-placed Sheffield Wednesday postponed due to international call-ups while several of the sides within reach of them will play.
Sunderland have made a fine start to the season, winning four of their five league games - six out of seven in all competitions - and the team Johnson and the club’s recruitment staff has assembled appears to be bedding in nicely.
They made comparatively light work of Wycombe, a team who came within a whisker of surviving in the Championship last season, racing into a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes at the Stadium of Light.
Ross Stewart continued his impressive goalscoring form, heading the opener from Elliot Embleton’s pinpoint cross.
Then Embleton added the second with a curling shot from the edge of the box just five minutes later.
At that stage, it threatened to become a repeat of Wycombe’s last visit to Wearside in January last year, when the Chairboys found themselves 3-0 down by the midway point of the first half on their way to a 4-0 defeat.
However, they rallied, and Sunderland had to wait until the 83rd minute for their third goal, Stewart finishing a rapid counter with Dan Neil providing the assist.
Stewart could easily have ended up with a hat-trick had he not been tugged back inside the penalty area as he bore down on goal - and to make matters worse the referee John Busby did not award the stonewall penalty either.
In injury-time, Wycombe scored a consolation with the aid of a deflection as David Wheeler’s shot was diverted past Anthony Patterson - and the lack of a clean sheet was the only disappointment for the Black Cats.
Aside from man of the match Stewart and the excellent Embleton, Neil was magnificent after being moved back into midfield for this game, Callum Doyle was brilliant in central defence and midfielder Carl Winchester continues to look completely at home in the right-back role.
Johnson is still hoping to add a couple of new signings before tomorrow night’s deadline - but even without further new recruits Sunderland look to be in a good place at the moment.