Charlton Athletic 0-0 Sunderland – Match Report

Report

Sunderland dropout of the play off places due to a goaless draw at the Valley.

The first half was dominated by The Black Cats’ who just weren’t clinical enough in the final third.

Sunderland’s talisman Ross Stewart had the majority of the chances for the lads in the first half, seeing 2 headers from corners go just wide of the right hand post.

Pritchard also saw a brilliantly taken free-kick tipped over by Charlton ‘keeper MacGillivray.

Charlton finished the half strongly as they won a few corners and looked dangerous from set pieces however they struggled to make Anthony Patterson work.

As half-time approached, it looked as if The Black Cats’ would surely find their goal and take all 3 points.

The second half turned out to be a scrappy half of football with many soft free-kicks given by the referee which didn’t allow Sunderland to keep their tempo which they enjoyed so much in the opening 45.

Sunderland had a good half chance just 5 minutes after the break as Alex Pritchard played in Dennis Cirkin brilliantly and he saw his effort blocked just infront of the goal.

Their was only really one big chance in the second half which came in the 79th minute as substitute Elliot Embleton picked up the ball half way through Charlton’s half and played in a splendid reverse pass through to Ross Stewart who drove it across goal but it was well saved by MacGillivray.

My Thoughts

It wasn’t a bad performance by any means and The Addicks’ did defend very well at times.

However, it is disappointing to see us drop out of the play off places as all of the teams around us got the results they needed.

If we can keep performing well and be more clinical in front of goal, I can see us climbing back up into them play offs places.

I do think that we are relying on Ross Stewart’s goals far too much and i would like to see more of our players fancying their chances and having more attempts at goal.

It did look good seeing Nathan Broadhead make his return to the squad after such a lengthy time away and he did look very good at times and provided a nice, fresh attacking outlet.

Player Ratings

Anthony Patterson – 6/10

Barely had any work to do.

Carl Winchester – 7/10

He looked comfortable defensively, and at times provided good support for Gooch down the righ hand side when going forward.

Bailey Wright 7/10

He looked confident defensively without making many, if any real mistakes.

Arbenit Xhemajli – 7/10

Similar to Bailey Wright.

Dennis Cirkin 7/10

He was much better than in recent weeks as he looked very comfortable defensively and he never looked shy to get forward.

Cory Evans 6/10

Once again, a very quiet performance from the captain didn’t do much wrong and was tidy on the ball whenever he received it.

Jay Matete – 7/10

A typical, battling performance from the young man in midfield.

Lynden Gooch – 6/10

Quiet in the second half but he did show some dangerous spells during the first.

Alex Pritchard 7/10

He looked like our most creative player throughout with some nice touches and neat passes, shame he had to go off, hopefully his injury isn’t too bad.

Ross Stewart – 6/10

Missed a few good chances and saw a good attempt saved in the second.

Elliot Embleton – 7/10

Looked sharp after replacing Pritchard and set up Stewart’s only real chance in the second half.

Jack Clarke – 6/10

As usual he looked pacey and dangerous whenever he was on the ball, however his end product often lacked today.

Patrick Roberts – 6/10

Similar to Jack Clarke, but he only had 10 minutes or so to make a difference which he couldn’t provide.