Story of the night as Sunderland win at Lincoln to begin Papa John's Trophy title defence after Dan Neil and Stephen Wearne goals
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Lee Johnson made ten changes to his starting XI following Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth, with promotion from League One clearly the priority this season.
In a squad which had a mixture of first-team and under-23 players, Denver Hume made his first competitive start of the season after recovering from a hamstring injury, while Dan Neil captained the side.
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Hide AdUnder-23s players Kenton Richardson, Oliver Younger, Ellis Taylor, Harrison Sonha and Will Harris got a chance to impress.
Goals from Neil and substitute Stephen Wearne saw the Cats claim all three points in Northern Group F, ahead of a meeting with Manchester United Under-21s at the Stadium of Light next week.
The only negative was that Sunderland midfielder Luke O’Nien was forced off with an injury in the second half.
Here’s how the game played out at the LNER Stadium:
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RECAP: Lincoln 1 (Montsma, 90+3) Sunderland 2 (Neil, 2) (Wearne, 72)
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Burge, Richardson, Alves, Younger, Hume, Neil, Sonha, Pritchard, O’Brien, Taylor (Wearne, 62), Harris (O’Nien, 74) (Embleton, 81).
- Subs: Carirney, Almond, O’Nien, Newall, Kachosa, Wearne, Embleton
- Lincoln XI: Long, Poole, Montsma, Sanders, Robson, Sorensen, Walsh (Eyoma, 46), Longdon (Bramall, 69), Adelakun, Maguire (Nlundulu, 69), Scully
- Subs: Boylan, Bramall, Eyoma, Nlundulu
Thanks for joining us tonight
We’re signing off from today’s blog but will have loads more reaction and analysis from tonight’s match on the SAFC section of the Echo website.
See you soon.
90+3’ Goal Lincoln
The hosts have one back as a cross is only half cleared and falls to Montsma who fires a low shot into the bottom corner.
85’ Big chances for Lincoln
That could have made it a nervy finish. Bramall’s cross from the left found Scully but Lincoln’s top scorer couldn’t divert his effort on target.
Moments later, Nlundulu almost got on the end of a low cross from the right but couldn’t get on the end of it.
Still 2-0.
81’ O’Nien forced off
The Sunderland midfielder appeared to be holding his ribs as he walked off the pitch.
Hopefully it isn’t serious.