Sunderland Suffer At Stadium Of Light
Sunderland slipped to a narrow home defeat against Swansea City as the post-Michael Beale era kicked off for the Vertu Motors-backed side at the Stadium of Light.
Beale’s departure after a short stint in charge saw Mike Dodds back at the helm for the visit of the Welsh side, with the Black Cats chasing three points in a bid to try and close in on the play-off places.
Swansea created the best of the early chances and hit the front just before the 20 minute mark when a cross from the left from Josh Tymon was met by the head of Liam Cullen.
His header was expertly saved by Anthony Patterson in the Sunderland goal but the ball fell loose to Brazilian winger Ronald, who swept in the rebound to put the visitors in front.
Przemyslaw Placheta missed a glorious chance to double Swansea’s lead before the visitors did go two goals clear as Joe Allen picked up a mis-placed pass in midfield before playing in Ronald to make it 2-0.
Placheta forced Patterson into a save before half-time to keep Sunderland in the game, and captain Luke O’Nien made up for his error in the run-up to the second goal when he nodded in after the break to reduce the deficit.
Sunderland fought hard in the closing ten minutes but despite Patterson going up to join the attack, the home side were unable to find the goal needed to grab a point.
It leaves Sunderland in tenth spot ahead of the trip to Norwich this weekend.
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