Wigan 0-3 Sunderland Match Report – That’s More Like It!

Report

Sunderland got off to the perfect start as Alex Pritchard draws a free-kick half way into the Wigan half.

Pritchard took the free-kick which was a wonderful ball in to the centre of the box and Bailey Wright headered it home to make it 1-0 after just 1 minute.

Wigan never recovered from that early blow and failed to put The Black Cats’ under any sort of pressure.

In the 36 minute, Ross Stewart picked up the ball inside the Latics penalty area and he was taken down by the Wigan defender, it was a definite penalty.

Stewart stepped up and slotted the ball home into the bottom left corner sending Ben Amos the wrong way to make it 2-0 at half time.

Sunderland were very smart it the 2nd half and it never looked like The Latics would ever break them down.

However, they did have one major opportunity 10 minutes after the break as Will Keane played Callum Lang 1 on 1 with Anthony Patterson but Patterson was able to come out and make a brilliant save to his left hand side.

The Black Cats’ were managing the game well as they won a corner 3 minutes before the 90. The ball was played in and after some confusion the referee gave a penalty after a handball.

Ross Stewart stepped up to score his 2nd of the game and make the score 3-0 as he went the opposite side to his first penalty and again sent Ben Amos the wrong way.

My Views

Where did that come from!

The lads were brilliant today.

Xhemajli was tremendous, won every tackle, battled well in the air and showed great leadership. Brilliant.

Hopefully the lads can kick on from this and we can stop worrying about nose diving in the league and keeping the pressure on those around us.

We proved today that we can do it.

You have got to give credit to Alex Neil too, for putting his faith into Xhemajli who hasn’t played in such a long time!

Fantastic!

Player Ratings

Anthony Patterson – 8

Didn’t have too many saves to make but every time he was called upon he did what was necessary. Well earned clean sheet

Carl Winchester – 7

Did well defensively and looked a threat going forward.

Bailey Wright – 8

Took his goal very well and a great performance defensively. A lot better from the Australian.

Arbenit Xhemajli – 9

What a performance. Looked comfortable on the ball and nothing got passed him. Brilliant.

Dennis Cirkin – 6

Not a bad performance by any means. Looked shaky at times but dealt with Wigan’s threat well the majority of the time. Better than what we have seen in recent weeks.

Cory Evans – 6

Very quiet game. Didn’t do much wrong if anything. Again better than recent weeks though.

Elliot Embleton – 7

Linked up well with Pritchard at times in the game and often looked a threat.

Jay Matete – 8

The lads brilliant. Always looks comfortable in possession and also does his job defensively.

Alex Pritchard – 8

Brilliant once again by the little magician. A brilliantly taken free kick to set up Bailey Wright’s goal, constantly put Wigan’s defence under pressure.

Lynden Gooch – 7

Better from the American today. Still lacking slightly on his final product but he looked like a real threat going forward and he also did his bit defensively.

Ross Stewart – 9

Brilliant. He never stopped running, battled well in the air and took his penalties well.

Jack Clarke – 6

Didn’t do much after coming on but he did look like he could have hurt Wigan as we looked to catch them on a break.

Dan Neil – N/A

Didnt have much time to make a real impact.