Norwich 0-1 Sunderland- Match Report & Player Ratings

Report

The Black Cats put in a brilliant defensive performance to beat an inform Norwich side thanks to Abdoullah Ba’s first goal for the club.

The Black Cats move up to 10th in the league, and they are now five points away from the play-offs.

Sunderland started the game the stronger of the two sides, getting two early shots on goal from Jack Clarke and Joe Gelhardt, but they didn’t cause Angus Gunn in goal many problems.

At the quarter of an hour mark, Joe Gelhardt turned well and picked out Ba on the edge of the area.

Ba worked it well on to his left foot and buried it past Gunn in goal and into the bottom right corner.

Gelhardt had a huge opportunity himself not long after as he worked his way through, one on one with the goalkeeper, but his effort was straight at Gunn.

In the second half, Sunderland sDanny Batthat deep and invited Norwich on, but their organisation and hard-work meant that, despite having so much of the ball, they found it extremely difficult to break Sunderland down.

Danny Batth put in a fantastic defensive display and he was vital in Sunderland keeping their clean sheet.

Player Ratings

Anthony Patterson – 6

Didn’t have much to do, there was times when he could have came out to claim the ball, but nothing major.

Trai Hume – 7

A solid defensive display, got stuck in plenty of times.

Danny Batth – 9

A brick wall throughout, unlucky to get a yellow card for what looked like a brilliant challenge.

Dan Ballard – 8

Almost as good as Batth, didn’t put a foot wrong, vital in keeping our clean sheet.

Luke O’Nien – 8

Another great performance, defensively. A wind-up merchant, as usual as he was seen giving one of their players a kiss.

Dan Neil – 7

Gave away a few cheap fouls, but overall a decent performance.

Edouard Michut – 7

Similar to Neil, did his job well.

Jack Clarke – 8

Didn’t do a lot going forward, but when he dropped deep, he got stuck in and put in some very important tackles.

Patrick Roberts – 7

Looked very dangerous at times, gkt us on the front foot a few times early in the second half.

Abdoullah Ba – 7

A great finish for his goal, and did really well considering he was playing up front with Gelhardt.

Joe Gelhardt – 7

Should have had a goal, but with his link up play and when he was holding the ball up, he did very well.

SUBS

Lynden Gooch – 7

Put in a good shift, started upfront and ended the game in right-back.

Pierre Ekwah – 6

Came on and worked hard to see out the win.

Isaac Lihadji – 6

Provided a much needed outlet when we were clearing the ball in the dying moments of the game.

MoTM – Danny Batth