Ellis Simms’ late winner saw Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland beat his former team – Blackburn Rovers 2-1 in a nervy Boxing Day thriller.
Ross Stewart handed Blackburn a 18th minute lead as he bundled a free-kick into his own net, following a foul by Daniel Ballard on Ben Brereton Diaz.
Stewart though quickly produced Sunderland’s equaliser just three minutes later as he dispatched a penalty kick, having initially drawn a foul from John Buckley.
Both teams thereafter wasted further chances in a tense contest until Sunderland substitute, Ellis Simms poked in an injury-time winner from a free-kick, which lifted the Black Cats up to seventh in the table ahead of 3pm GMT fixtures whilst Blackburn remain third in the table.
A competitve start saw both teams exchange chances in a fiece opening ten minutes of which Bradley Dack went closest for the visitors, as he rifled over the bar from Tyler Morton’s long pass at a corner-kick towards the edge of the box.
Sunderland soon began to get on top but Ballard conceded a sloppy free-kick in the 17th minute, as he fouled Brereton Diaz as the Chile international met Sam Gallagher’s through ball up the left flank.
Morton seconds later whipped in the free-kick which Daniel Ayala nodded in via deflection of Stewart, who got the final touch into his own net and was consequentially awarded an own goal by officials.
Stewart responded to that setback just minutes later as he forced a foul from Buckley just inside the box, from which he duly stepped up and dispatched the penalty into the bottom-left corner to restore parity.
Morton who had been Rovers’ most influential player then triggered brief brawling in the 25th minute with a reckless tackle on Jack Clarke, which earned the Liverpool loanee a yellow card from referee – Darren Bond.
Neither team found a further breakthrough across the remainder of the first-half and the scrappy contest continued into the second-half.
Sunderland two minutes later launched the second half into life on the counter-attack which saw Dan Neil tee up substitute, Trai Hume whose shot was blocked by Kaminiski but the Belgian goalkeeper recovered to save Stewart’s rebound header.
Stewart then saw a 58th minute shot from a low corner-kick blocked after Brereton Diaz had fouled Roberts up the right-flank.
Roberts then combined with Stewart in a 67th minute fast-flowing one-two move into the box but Stewart’s return pass was blocked, whilst Stewart again was involved in the action two minutes later as he finished Clarke’s sprinting attack but fired straight into Kaminski’s arms.
Morton and Amad Diallo then both saw shots blocked by Anthony Patterson and Kaminski respectively as the game grew into a tense end-to-end climax.
Fans who remained in the stands within chilly temperatures were ultimately rewarded with a 91st minute home winner, as a free-kick was scrappily cleared which Ballard collected and rolled across the box for Simms to calmly fire into the far left corner to send home fans wild in celebrations.
Simms’ late goal lifted Sunderland up to seventh in the table whilst Blackburn remain third after ten-men Watford lost 2-0 at home to Millwall in the other lunchtime kick-off.
What Next?
Sunderland visit Wigan at the DW Stadium on Thursday 29 December in an untelevised 7:45pm GMT kick-off, whilst Blackburn are in action just 22.6 miles away at Ewood Park in a home clash against Middlesbrough that same evening.
Teams
Sunderland: Anthony Patterson, Lynden Gooch (Wright 79′), Daniel Ballard, Luke O’Nien, Dennis Cirkin (Hume 51′), Corry Evans, Dan Neil, Patrick Roberts (Simms 80′), Amad Diallo, Jack Clarke, Ross Stewart
Substitutes: Alex Bass, Ellis Simms, Jay Matete, Abdoullah Ba, Edouard Micht, Bailey Wright, Trai Hume,
Blackburn: Thomas Kaminski, Joe Rankin-Costello, Dominic Hyam, Daniel Ayala, Harry Pickering, Tyler Morton, Will Buckley, Ryan Hedges, Bradley Dack (Travis 77′), Ben Brereton Diaz, Sam Gallagher (Hirst 77′)
Substitutes: Aynsley Pears, Scott Wharton, Ashley Phillips, Lewis Travis, Jake Garrett, Dilan Markanday, George Hirst
Leave a Reply