LATICS JINXED BY BLACK CATS
ALEX Neil hailed his Sunderland players who “rose to the physical challenge” of travelling to League One high-flyers Wigan Athletic – and came away with an emphatic victory.
Bailey Wright gave the Black Cats the perfect start when he nodded home Alex Pritchard’s free-kick inside two minutes.
And a brace of penalties from Ross Stewart, one in each half, gave the visitors a commanding victory margin to kick-start their own play-off push.
“We need to prove to ourselves, and to everyone else, that we can stand up to these physical challenges,” Neil said.
“Even at half-time, it was, ‘now you’ve done it for 45, have you got the steel to deliver in the second half ?’.
“I think players like challenges like that. The players raised their game to match that. It’s not been easy, and even today we lost two centre-backs.
“There’s always been a lot of challenges from day one, but it’s really nice to come away from home against a good team, keep a clean sheet and send the fans home happy.
The visitors were in front with only a minute on the clock, when Pritchard’s freekick from the right wing was headed home by an unmarked Wright.
Stewart doubled their lead seven minutes before the break from the penalty spot, after he was tripped just inside the box by Curtis Tilt.
Stewart and Pritchard came close to making it 3-0 as the visitors enjoyed almost total dominance.
The hosts briefly threatened when Callum Lang raced clean through, only to fire straight at Anthony Patterson.
And Stewart added his second penalty of the game with four minutes remaining, after Tendayi Darikwa was penalised for handball.
Wigan remain second, but are now only clear of MK Dons on goal difference, albeit having played three games fewer.
For Wigan boss Leam Richardson, it was a bad day at the office as his side suffered their first home defeat since October.
“You’ve got to be respectful of other teams at all times, especially when they play well,” he said.
“They’ve obviously got off to a fantastic start, going ahead inside two minutes, which is disappointing.
“It’s not a goal we usually concede, that type of goal, and it gave them the perfect start.
“I thought we came back into it well, I thought we took over the game for around half an hour. But the second goal, from a penalty, from our possession, is so disappointing.
“From then on in, the game was a bit bitty, a bit scrappy, with the injuries and the bookings and the substitutes.
“But credit to Sunderland, they’ve come here to get the win, and they did.”
Amos 5, Darikwa 6, Whatmough 6, Tilt 6, McClean 6, Power 6, Naylor 6 (Massey 88), Lang 6, Keane 6, Edwards 7 (Shinnie 69, 6), Magennis 6 (Humphrys 60, 6). Subs not used: Jones, Watts, Bennett, Rea.
Patterson 8, Winchester 7, Wright 8, Xhemajli 7, Cirkin 7, Matete 7,
Evans 7, Gooch 7, Embleton 6 (Clarke 78,
7), Pritchard 7 (Neil 82, 6), Stewart 8. Subs not used: Dajaku, Defoe, Hume, Hoffmann, Roberts.