Sunderland slumped to their first defeat of the season as they went down 2-1 against Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium. After recent performances it can be argued that a defeat was not far away, it was no surprise Sunderland left empty handed after putting in their worst display of the season so far.
Sunderland Line up:
McLaughlin
Matthews Baldwin Loovens Oviedo
Honeyman Cattermole Gooch
Maja Wyke Sinclair
Despite having an attacking line up the visitors struggled In the opening half, falling behind on 19 minutes. Jamie Allen stroked home from close range after some good work down the right hand side from Marvin Sordell. Not for the first time in the afternoon, Sunderland’s defending was questionable. Bryan Oviedo should have done more to stop the cross coming into the box, yet the lead was not underserved.
Ten minutes before the break it was 2-0 as Kyle McFadzean took advantage of some poor Sunderland marking to head home past Jon McLaughlin. Burtons third straight home win looked highly likely as the Black Cats continued to make life in League One hard for themselves. To round of the visitors first half misery Charlie Wyke was on the end of a nasty looking challenge from Brewers on-loan goalkeeper Dimitar Etminov which brought his afternoon to a premature end just before the break.
HT: Burton Albion 2-0 Sunderland AFC
The second half nearly brought about a third goal for the Brewers. David Templeton was able to run deep into Sunderland territory before squaring the ball to Scott Fraser whose effort was blocked by Jack Baldwin for a corner. A rout was not beyond the realms of possibility at this point. Moments later McLaughlin had to be alerting. to push away a close-range effort as the hosts attempted to kill the game off.
With over half an hour left on the clock Sunderland were handed an unlikely lifeline. Chris Maguire picked up the ball outside the box and hit a strike into the top corner to half the deficit for the visitors.
A scramble in the box presented a half chance for Aidan McGeady, the Irishman fizzed his strike wide of the mark on his first appearance of the season. A draw would have flattered Sunderland and they fell to a much-deserved defeat with little to shout about.
FT: Burton Albion 2-1 Sunderland AFC
The Black Cats welcome Rochdale to the Stadium of Light on Saturday, a vastly improve performance is needed.
The 92 Blog 