Player ratings

BROWN: No chance with the goals, but he made a smart second half save from Honeyman .................................. 7 LEGGE: More influential as the game wore on. Thrown up front for the final minutes ...7 SMITH: Gritty performance from a player finding his form this season .......................7 RAWLINSON: Adjusted well from playing in the back three to right-back....................... 7 CLARK: Driving runs and defended solidly ................. 7 JOYCE: Industrious but didn’t have it easy against a quality midfield ............................. 6 HANNANT: Worked hard as ever. Not sure how he didn’t get a penalty ...................... 7 CONLON: Started in the middle then did a job for the team wide on the left ..................6 VASSELL: A little unlucky because he was playing no worse than anyone else when he was taken off because Vale changed to 4-4-2 from a 3-5-2 system ..................... 5 WHITFIELD: So close in the second half when he fired into the side-netting after beating two defenders.................... 7 POPE: Quality all round performance and a cracking goal off his left foot .......................8 SUBSTITUTES OYELEKE (Vassell, 30): Made a huge difference, including setting up Pope for the goal ..8 MONTANO (Conlon, 71): Good to see him back after a knee injur y ................................. 6 MILLER (Whitfield, 80): Unlucky not to snatch an equaliser in a goalmouth scramble ..... 6 Not used: Kay, Hornby, Dodds, Hardcastle Sunderland: Mclaughlin, Matthews, Flanagan, Baldwin, James, Mcgeouch, Honeyman, Mcgeady, Maguire (Power, 71), Gooch (O’nien, 81), Sinclair (Maja, 64). Not used: Oviedo, Loovens, Ozturk, Ruiter.