Sheffield United 2-1 Sunderland – Match Report & Player Ratings

Report

10-man Sunderland suffer their first defeat of the season at Bramall Lane despite a very spirited performance.

The game started with a very high tempo from both sides.

The Black Cats’ went into the game showing no fear and had a few half chances in the process.

However, one moment of stupidity from midfielder Dan Neil meant Sunderland had to play around 60 minutes with 10-men.

Sunderland looked comfortable until Danny Batth gave the ball to Neil on the edge of the area and after a sloppy first touch, Blades’ midfielder James McAtee pounced onto it and was brought down by Neil who was the last man.

Just 2 minutes later, United scored from a corner as Anel Ahmedhodzic towered above the Sunderland defenders and headed into the net to make it 1-0.

The Black Cats’ were able to keep the score down going into half-time.

Just over a minute into the second half, United made it 2-0, with a beautifully worked moved which was finished by Max Lowe after Ahmedhodzic pulled it back to him from the bi-line.

Sunderland didn’t give up though, and in the 55th minute, Lynden Gooch was played through by Ross Stewart and he dinked it gloriously over the goalkeeper to give the mackem faithful hope.

The Black Cats’ were able to stay in the game despite some huge chances for Sheffield United towards the end.

Anthony Patterson made 2 outstanding saves as the game was coming to a close, one down to his right by Ollie McBurnie and another coming from a header off a corner, where he showed fantastic reflexes.

Player Ratings

Anthony Patterson – 8

Couldn’t do too much with the goals, made some fantastic saves.

Lynden Gooch – 8

A brilliant finish for his goal and played his heart out throughout.

Danny Batth – 6

Looked fairly solid throughout, had to work extremely hard once we went down to 10 men.

Luke O’Nien – 7

Battled well and continued to when he was pushed into midfield.

Dennis Cirkin – 7

Similar to O’Nien, worked very hard throughout.

Jack Clarke – 5

Worked hard getting back as usual, but very quiet going forward.

Dan Neil – 3

Cost Sunderland the game. Wasn’t too great before the red card.

Elliot Embleton – 5

Forgot he was playing to be honest.

Alex Pritchard – 6

Played his heart out and helped out defensively after the red card.

Ellis Simms – 6

A quieter game by Simms but some very nice touches throughout, brought off early in the second half to reshape the team.

Ross Stewart – 7

Not many chances for the striker, but just like most others, played his heart out to help the team!

Jay Matete- 7

Came on and added some pace and power to our midfield.

Bailey Wright – 6

Solid after coming on.

Trai Hume – 6

Similar to Wright.

Ajibola Alese – 6

Came on very late, didn’t need to do much.

Jack Diamond – 6

Added some pace going forward as we tried to snatch an equaliser.