Sunderland Secure Impressive Stoke Win
Sunderland ended a run of three successive defeats with an impressive victory against Stoke City to move closer to the EFL Championship play-off positions.
The Black Cats had suffered narrow defeats to fellow promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town and Hull City on the back of an FA Cup exit to local rivals Newcastle, and went into the final game of January at the Stadium of Light eager to try and get back on form.
Despite being without the services of Alex Pritchard, Sunderland weathered the storm early on as Stoke had chances to take the lead, most notably when Luke Cundle forced ‘keeper Anthony Patterson into a smart save before Bae Jun-ho had a shot cleared off the line by Luke O’Nien.
Just before the break however, it was Sunderland who hit the front as Jack Clarke fired in a shot from the left that was saved by Daniel Iversen before the ball fell to Mason Burstow to nod in the opener for his first goal for the club.
Shortly after half-time Sunderland went two clear, with Clarke again the instigator as he came forward down the left wing before teeing up Abdoullah Ba to slide home the second goal and it was Ba who then set up Pierre Ekwah to drive in the third goal to secure the points.
Stoke would get a goal back four minutes later when Jason Seelt put the ball past his own ‘keeper but it was too little, too late with the result putting Sunderland up into seventh in the table – level on points with sixth placed Coventry but behind on goal difference.
Next up for Sunderland is a derby with Middlesbrough this weekend at the Riverside Stadium.