That is far More like it from Cats

SO that is the clean sweep.

Sunderland’s demolition job against Morecambe means all four promoted sides have been dispatched in the first half of the season - 13 goals scored and just one conceded.

The 5-0 scoreline against the Shrimps at the Stadium of Light equalled the Black Cats’ biggest win of the season which also came against newly-promoted opposition in Cheltenham Town at home at the end of September.

Cambridge were defeated 2-1 away from home the weekend before last and Bolton beaten 1-0 on Wearside in September.

All four were games Sunderland were expected to win and each time they delivered - and, in the case of the two routs they did so in style.

These kind of fixtures cannot be taken for granted either and Sunderland fans will remember the club’s first meetings with the four promoted clubs last season brought two wins, a draw and a defeat.

Returning to the current campaign, seeing off League One newcomers is all well and good but Sunderland need to be more than merely flat track bullies if they are to win promotion.

Their wins against promotion rivals Wycombe and Wigan and against play-off hopefuls MK Dons have proved there is more to them than that – even if the heavy defeat at Rotherham was painful and the weekend’s draw against Oxford was two points dropped.

Another test lies in wait this weekend when Plymouth, who were setting the pace just a few weeks ago but have since slipped to sixth, visit the Stadium of Light.

For now, though, Sunderland can reflect on a job well done against Morecambe - even though the visitors, like Cheltenham before them, put up only token resistance - which lifted them to third in the table, just two points behind leaders Rotherham.

Morecambe possess the division’s 13-goal top scorer in Cole Stockton yet they have won just one of their last ten league games and are deep in relegation trouble.

From the moment Ross Stewart and Nathan Broadhead scored in rapid succession inside the first 20 minutes of the game there was no way back for the Shrimps.

Alex Pritchard, Broadhead again and Leon Dajaku extended Sunderland’s lead in the second half and Sunderland could easily have scored more.

Boss Lee Johnson switched to a back four with Bailey Wright at right-back and Lynden Gooch at left-back and the system worked well - Gooch even contributing the assists for the first two goals which atoned for the error he made at the weekend which led to Oxford’s equaliser.

Carl Winchester and Dan Neil built a solid central midfield platform with Broadhead and Dajaku providing the width and Pritchard excelling as the link man playing off Stewart.

Jo h n s o n ’ s options remain severely limited by injuries and until those injuries begin to clear up they must continue to muddle through. Yet in recent weeks they have done so to good effect, this win extending the Black Cats’ unbeaten run to five games which have returned 11 points.

As far as the bigger picture is concerned, the Wearsiders have accumulated 39 points from 20 games - a fraction away from the two points-per-game average taken as the benchmark for promotion from this league.

As the crucial Christmas period approaches they are on course.

Seeing off League One newcomers is all well and good but Sunderland need to me more than flat track bullies if they are to go up