Sunderland Sign Off With Victory

03/01/2025 14:20 Share

Sunderland ended the festive period with an impressive win on the road at Sheffield United as the Black Cats remain well placed in the battle for promotion from the EFL Championship.

The Bristol Street Motors-backed side headed into the busy spell of three games on the back of an impressive comeback win against Swansea City, coming back from two goals down to secure a 3-2 success, and a home victory against Norwich City – with Jobe Bellingham hitting the winner in both matches.

Boxing Day saw Regis Le Bris and his side head to Lancashire to face off against Blackburn Rovers, with the home side taking the lead early on when Yuki Ohashi netted after 13 minutes.

Sunderland struggled to get into the game in the first half, but equalised five minutes after the break through Chris Rigg – who fired home from close range when Blackburn failed to deal with a cross.

Within four minutes, Sunderland had hit the front when Wilson Isidor back-heeled in a cross from Patrick Roberts and the visitors could have moved further clear before Blackburn stole a point right at the death through Harry Leonard.

The final game of 2024 was another away trip with Sunderland this time heading for Stoke City, where a five game unbeaten run came to an end.

The Black Cats created plenty of chances and had more of the ball but were unable to find a way past Viktor Johansson in the Stoke goal – with the Swede saving well from Adil Aouchiche and Trai Hume, amongst others.

After Eliezer Mayenda missed a great chance to break the deadlock from close range, Stoke grabbed the points in injury time when Tom Cannon fired beyond Anthony Patterson from 25 yards out.

New Years Day saw Sunderland return to the Stadium of Light to face a Sheffield United side who had topped the standings going into the festive games.

The visitors should have taken the lead when Luke O’Nien fouled Kieffer Moore in the box only for Moore to then see his penalty kick saved by Patterson.

Sunderland punished that missed opportunity when Mayenda fired in the opener after 27 minutes but the lead would last just five minutes before O’Nien put through his own goal.

Again, it would be a matter of moments before the ball was in the net again as Isidor put Sunderland back in front and his side held on to secure a win that means the gap to the automatic promotion spots is now just two points.

A busy January will see Sunderland in action four times in the league, and also in the third round of the FA Cup at home to Stoke.