Sunderland 3 Plymouth Argyle 1: Sunderland come from behind to claim successive home wins
Sunderland scored three times in the second half as they came from behind to claim a valuable win over Plymouth Argyle at the Stadium of Light.
Michael Beale’s side went in behind at the break after an audacious opening goal from Ryan Hardie who deftly floated the ball over Anthony Patterson to cap a swift counter-attack from an excellent Morgan Whittaker assist. But Beale’s side responded in the perfect manner with three goals in 15 minutes to hand Ian Foster his first league defeat as Plymouth boss.
Pierre Ekwah cleverly fired a free kick under the Plymouth wall and into the bottom corner from the edge of the area seven minutes after the restart before Jack Clarke scored his 14th goal of the season with a wonderful strike which curled in off Conor Hazard’s post.
And Sunderland extended their lead soon after when substitute Jobe Bellingham made an instant impact by rivalling Clarke with another excellent finish as Beale’s side moved back into the Championship play-off places.
We Are Sunderland looks back on another encouraging afternoon at the Stadium of Light:
Michael Beale thanks supporters for emotional tribute
It’s been a tough week for Beale away from football matters after his four-year-old niece Poppy was diagnosed with leukaemia.
In a post on social media, Beale said: “F*** cancer – my niece Poppy is four-years-old. From 18-months-old she has been fighting leukaemia, she has rang the bell, she has gone through a bone marrow match and transplant.
“This horrible disease has returned once again. Life is so harsh on a little girl and family that deserve so much more. We love you Pops. You will beat this once again.”
Sunderland supporters rallied round their head coach and his family, organising a minute’s applause in the fourth minute of the game against Plymouth. The entire stadium rose to their feet in support of Poppy, with Beale quick to show his appreciation.
The Black Cats head coach acknowledged all four corners of the ground, raising his hand aloft and patting his heart. A touching moment and another sign – not that it were needed – of the class of red and white supporters.
The head coach was visibly emotional in his post-match press conference when asked about the support from the red and white fanbase.
"Yeah it's hard to speak about it," he said sincerely. "Just thank you to be honest. It's hard to talk about it."
Roberts and Rusyn make impact on return
Patrick Robert’s return to the Sunderland squad at Middlesbrough a week ago was a welcome boost for Beale and his side with Sunderland’s head coach admitting on several occasions how big of a miss the tricky winger has been during his spell out of the side with a calf injury. Roberts came off the bench at the Riverside alongside Nazariy Rusyn as Sunderland came from behind to rescue a point on Teesside – their reward being a start here against Plymouth.
And after a slightly indifferent opening 45 minutes, where Beale suggested there 'wasn’t many doing themselves justice,’ their endeavour proved to be just the tonic for Sunderland in what turned out to be another successful afternoon for Beale and his side at home.
Roberts enjoyed plenty of nearly moments again where his quick footwork provided space for Trai Hume to overlap on the right while Rusyn made a number of encouraging runs into the channel which gave Lewis Gibson plenty to think about – the kind of runs missing from Mason Burstow last weekend with the on-loan Chelsea forward operating in more of a deep-lying role to try and ignite space on the wings.
Here, Beale had certainly made a purpose of trying a number of avenues for Sunderland, and centre-back Gibson was a point of interest for both Roberts and Rusyn with the former robbing the defender deep inside his own half before a searching cross for Rusyn was turned behind.
Rusyn at least had Plymouth’s defence turned towards their own goal at times but, as has been the case throughout the season, the impetus in terms of a goal scoring threat remained a little too anonymous with Beale’s side again, perhaps, guilty of not gambling enough in the penalty area.
Rusyn had just 16 touches in the first half, Roberts 37. But it was from one of those Roberts searching runs which led to Plymouth’s goal before the break after the 27-year-old’s attempts to keep a corner alive saw a loose ball fall into the path of Whittaker who turned swiftly before delivering a wonderful pass into the path of Hardie, who still had it all to do from halfway.
But it was Roberts and Rusyn who remained Sunderland’s greatest threats after the break – Plymouth, and former Sunderland man Bali Mumba, doing a reasonable job on Clarke in the first half – as he drove inside following a nice link-up with Rusyn to force an early corner.
And it was Roberts’ endeavour which led to Sunderland finding a way back into the game when he drew a foul on the edge of the area as he then rolled the ball to Ekwah who struck well under the Plymouth wall for Sunderland’s equaliser.
Both Roberts and Rusyn remained busy – Rusyn’s direct running becoming a clear problem for the away side which allowed Clarke to make more of an impact in the game as it grew older before, ultimately, giving Sunderland the lead.
Roberts was withdrawn on 70 minutes as Romaine Mundle was handed his Sunderland debut – a player who will be hoping to compete for Roberts’ place in the future whilst Rusyn was denied his first full 90 when subbed off in the 88th minute – his work ethic, perhaps, deserving of a goal. But Rusyn’s tireless endeavours will only strengthen the suggestion that he should now be Sunderland’s starting option in attack.
Jack Clarke…again
For all Plymouth had done a measured job on Clarke for the best part of an hour at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland’s talisman demonstrated once again why he is one of the best in the Championship with a fabulous goal, his 14th of the season, to give Sunderland the lead.
Clarke had endured a relatively frustrating first half by his standards with one or two progressive runs coming to nothing in the area, despite coming from strong positions, as well as a number of awry free kicks where the winger, himself, would likely expect a better end product – Clarke wrapping his shirt over his head in frustration at one particular attempt off target.
Former Sunderland man, Mumba, had done reasonably well in that sense. But the threat of Roberts and Rusyn down the right forced Plymouth to shift over more towards that side of the field which, in turn, allowed Clarke more space to operate in as he grew and grew into the game.
The winger sent a couple of warning signs to Plymouth with his driving runs down the left before punishing Foster’s side to devastating effect on the hour.
With space congested on the right, Hume angled an excellent ball across field into the space behind Mumba and Clarke did the rest as he picked up possession and held off the challenge before using the overlapping run on the left from Dan Neil to cut inside and fire a wonderful effort in off the post as his star continues to grow on Wearside.
READ MORE: Romaine man? Have Sunderland found Jack Clarke's successor?
Michael Beale’s substitutions pay off as Sunderland come from behind for the first time since October
At the Riverside a week ago, Beale left himself a little open for some criticism in terms of being reactive rather than proactive when it came to his substitutions, with Middlesbrough threatening significantly before taking the lead through Marcus Forss.
Here however, Beale made two notable changes just five minutes after taking the lead when introducing both Jobe and Chris Rigg for Ekwah and Abdoullah Ba.
Ba had been indifferent in a No.10 role whilst the decision to withdraw Ekwah may have raised one or two eyebrows after the midfielder had just handed Sunderland the initiative. And yet within less than two minutes of those changes, Sunderland added a third through Jobe.
Neil showed superb composure on halfway to find Jobe wide on the left and the teenager was impeccable with his first touches in the game as he glided in from the left before angling an effort in off the post Clarke had utilised just minutes earlier.
Jobe has been the subject of much debate with regards to whether he was in need of a rest or not, with claims of fatigue perhaps showing through. Beale has suggested his entire squad will be utilised over the course of the next week with three games to navigate and this provided the perfect platform to rotate some of those players.
Sunderland were able to see the game out with minimal fuss from that point which also represented the first time they had come from behind to win a game since October’s win over Norwich City at the Stadium of Light under Tony Mowbray.
On top of that, Sunderland scored three goals for a second successive fixture at the Stadium of Light and have now scored seven in their last three games under Beale – the best run this season since August into September which included a 2-1 win over Rotherham United and the 5-0 success over Southampton.
The dynamic of Sunderland’s front four
Beale expressed to We Are Sunderland in the week how he would love to be able to use the majority of Sunderland’s attackers in one fell swoop – despite the counter-balance issues that may provide.
“That’s the challenge to all of our attacking players; can we find the right balance defensively so we can play all of you guys together? It sounds great and I see all the teams that are picked outside the building, the balance would be a concern,” he said.
“If they all can form a bit more out of possession with their pressing, there’s no reason why you couldn’t play Paddy, Abdoullah, Romaine and Jack behind a striker.”
Here, though, it was Ba, Roberts and Clarke behind Rusyn to form Sunderland’s front four - Roberts operating from the right as Ba moved in-field into a No.10. But where we have seen Sunderland drop back into an attacking midfield four at times under Beale, there was a concerted effort to establish a recognised forward here, with Ba sometimes moving up alongside Rusyn to form a front two.
“We went really bold and attacking in our line-up,” said Beale. “We’re mixing around the goalscorers now and that’s six in the last two home games, so that’s a huge positive for us.
“Naz didn’t get any personal reward but his work ethic was fantastic. It was a really important win.”
Sunderland's attacking dilemmas are still yet to be resolved, but with confidence growing at home it feels as though we are edging closer to things improving. Leo Hjelde's arrival, allowing Hume to move back over to the right, has enhanced that front four given the balance they bring to the side, but Beale's vision of playing several of his attacking options certainly provides food for thought.
READ MORE: Every word from emotional Michael Beale after Plymouth win
Are things beginning to turn under Michael Beale?
Sunderland’s draw with Middlesbrough was difficult to dissect when it comes to the rationale of it being deemed a ‘good point’ or not. Beale suggested it will not be until the end of the season they can determine that, but with this victory here it moves the needle more towards it being a good point, rather than not.
Sunderland have now secured back-to-back wins at the Stadium of Light for the first time under Beale and have scored three times in successive home fixtures for the first time since wins over Norwich and Birmingham City as they moved back into the top six in the Championship table.
Beale highlighted the significance of this week for his Sunderland side with back-to-back away trips to Huddersfield Town and Birmingham on the horizon, but after the unenviable storm of his first month in charge, things appear to be settling for Beale ahead of the crucial run-in. The xG metrics are rising again and Sunderland look like a side with a little more freedom than we saw in the opening weeks of Beale's tenure.
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