Sunderland 1 Swansea 2: Highlights as Luke O'Nien goal not enough after Ronald brace for visitors
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Sunderland were beaten 2-1 by Swansea at the Stadium of Light – but how did each player fare for the Black Cats?
Mike Dodds’ side fell a goal down in the 19th minute when Swans winger Ronald opened the scoring. The Brazilian then netted his second of the match nine minutes later, while the visitors could have scored more in the first half. Luke O’Nien managed to pull a goal back for Sunderland 13 minutes from time but it was too little too late.
Here's how the game played out:
Sunderland vs Swansea
RECAP: Sunderland 1 (O'Nien, 77) Swansea 2 (Ronald, 19, 28)
Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, Seelt, O'Nien, Hjelde (Aouchiche, 85), Styles (Mundle, 60), Neil, Ekwah, Ba (Rigg, 72), Bellingham, Rusyn (Hemir, 72) Subs: Bishop, Pembele, Mundle, Rigg, Kelly, Lavery, Aouchiche, Hemir, Burstow
Swansea XI: Rushworth, Naughton (Darling, 88), Cabango, Wood, Tymon, Grimes, Cullen (Patino, 78), Allen (Fulton, 63), Ronald (Cooper, 88), Placheta, Patterson (Yates, 63)
Subs: Fisher, Darling, Fulton, Patino, Kukharevych, Sagoe Jr, Cooper, Lissah, Yates
It's Matchday!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland's Championship match against Swansea City at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats will be hoping to bounce back after successive defeats, with interim boss Mike Dodds set to take charge of the team for the rest of the season.
We'll have live updates, analysis, reaction and more throughout the day.
Team news
We'll start with the Sunderland team news.
Dan Ballard is set to miss the side's next two matches against Swansea and Norwich after picking up his 10th yellow card of the season at Birmingham last week, resulting in a two-match suspension.
Jack Clarke hasn't trained this week and is expected to miss today's match after picking up a foot injury against Birmingham last weekend.
Callum Styles is set to be named in Sunderland's squad for the first time after undergoing a minor surgery in January to remove his appendix.
Patrick Roberts (hamstring), Bradley Dack (hamstring), Aji Alese, Elliot Embleton (ankle), Dennis Cirkin (hamstring), Corry Evans (ACL) and Niall Huggins (knee) remain unavailable for this weekend’s match.
Dodds on Swansea
Here's what Dodds had to say about today's opponents - who sit 18th in the Championship table.
“The performances aren’t as poor as their position in the table. It’s going to be a really tough game against a really good coach. He did really, really well at Notts County.
"You can see in terms of how he sets his team up they are really well coached. When you look at the Championship now and just the league table, you could have a counter argument to that. Swansea is going to be a really, really tough game. They have a certain style of play, a certain brand of football and a really bright coach.”
How Swansea are shaping up
Swansea have won just one of their seven league games under Luke Williams, who was appointed the club's head coach in January.
In that run, the Swans have faced five of the Championship's top six, but have slipped to 18th in the table, four points above the relegation zone.
Williams on Sunderland
Here's what Swansea boss Luke Williams had to say about Sunderland:
“I know they are a very good side and I think they are going to be in the shake up.
“They are a really good team, play with good fluid movements and have a bit of everything that you need in pace and power, experience, youth. They are a good side and it’s a tough place to go."
Predicted line-ups
Here are our predicted line-ups for today's match:
Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, O'Nien, Seelt, Hjelde, Neil, Ekwah, Ba, Bellingham, Mundle, Rusyn
Predicted Swansea XI: Rushworth, Naughton, Cabango, Wood, Tymon, Allen, Grimes, Placheta, Cullen, Paterson, Yates
Dodds in his pre-match programme notes
“I’m incredibly proud to be named interim head coach of this coach of this club - I understand the responsibility and I will be doing everything I can to make it a successful end to the season.
"Today is a great opportunity for us to get back on track and we know you'll be right behind us from the first whistle.
"Finally, I'd like to send my best wishes to Tony Mowbray in his ongoing recovery. Tony played a huge role in my time at the club so far and I'm looking forward to seeing him back on the touchline as soon as possible."
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