VIDEO: How Sunderland powered past Plymouth
Sunderland played host to Plymouth Argyle as they went looking to go three without loss under Michael Beale.
Plymouth arrived with a new manager their previous one currently sinking with Stoke. Former England U20 manager Ian Foster was in the dugout for the Pilgrims, who were undefeated in the previous four coming into this fixture.
However, improving performances against Stoke and Middlesbrough had Sunderland fans feeling hopeful as the fog rolled in to the Stadium of Light.
Michael Beale named only one change from the draw at Middlesbrough, with Jobe Bellingham dropped to the bench and Abdoullah Ba moved into the centre to accommodate Patrick Roberts on the right wing.
Sunderland started the better and controlled possession well, but struggled once again to carve out solid chances on goal, and quite against the run of play it was Plymouth’s Ryan Hardie who opened the scoring just before half time with a superbly taken goal to beat Trai Hume in a foot race.
Sunderland though, did not panic and emerged from the tunnel in the second half first and eager to get at the opposition. And the second half saw them play much more aggressively in the press and tackle.
Poor corners and some wasteful free kicks were made up for with a simple free kick from Pierre Ekwah to level the score and from then on Sunderland simply exerted an ever increasing amount of control on the game and only one result seemed likely.
The goals to seal the points followed shortly afterwards from a rampant Jack Clarke and substitute Jobe Bellingham, but it was an all action athletic performance from Dan Neil that was the driving force behind the win.
He was smooth, clinical and relentless all afternoon, still busting a gut to surge up field in the 93rd minute.
With the win secure, Beale managed out the game finding time for Chris Rigg to get 25 minutes and a debut for new signing Romaine Mundle.
So have a look at the video below to see some emerging defensive formations for Michael Beale’s Sunderland and just how he engineered a relatively comfortable victory over the Pilgrims.
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