Lincoln City 0 Sunderland 0 RECAP: Story of the day as Cats are held to a frustrating draw at the LNER Stadium
and live on Freeview channel 276
The Black Cats remain in the League One play-off places after Sheffield Wednesday and Wycombe also dropped points, yet it was an opportunity missed for Alex Neil’s side.
Patrick Roberts impressed for the visitors after he was recalled to the starting XI.
Here’s how the game played out:
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RECAP: Lincoln 0 Sunderland 0
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Patterson, Winchester, Wright, Cirkin, Gooch (Doyle, 85), Evans, Neil (Dajaku, 74), Clarke (Defoe, 74) , O’Nien, Roberts, Stewart
- Subs: Hoffmann, Doyle, Hume, Matete, Embleton, Dajaku, Defoe
- Lincoln XI: Wright, Poole, Jackson, Walsh (Whittaker, 65), Norton-Cuffy, McGrandles, Fiorini, Bramall, Maguire, Marquis (Cullen, 80), Hopper
- Subs: Sanders, Whittaker, Sorensen, Bishop, Cullen, House, Scully
Predicted line-ups
Here are our predicted line-ups for today’s match.
Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson; Winchester, Wright, Xhemajli; Gooch, Cirkin, Neil, Matete, O’Nien; Roberts, Stewart
Predicted Lincoln XI: Wright; Eyoma, Jackson, Walsh; Norton-Cuffy, McGrandles, Fiorini, Maguire, Bramall; Hopper, Marquis
Appleton on Sunderland
Here’s what Lincoln boss Michael Appleton had to say about Sunderland ahead of today’s match.
“What I would say is that there is definitely a resilience there. I think they’ve scored a lot of goals in the latter stages of games, if they’ve been behind or the game has been close then they’ve gone on to win the game.
“Whether it’s a three or a four, they’ve changed at times, so we’re mindful of that and the threats that they have got. They’ve got some fantastic players in their forward areas and obviously one that’s very dangerous in Ross Stewart who is the division’s top scorer.”
How Lincoln are shaping up
Lincoln beat Sunderland in the play-offs last season but are 18th heading into today’s fixture.
Former Black Cats forward Chris Maguire is expected to be recalled after missing Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Rotherham.
To find out more, we caught up with Mark Whiley from Lincolnshire Echo to get the inside track.
Here’s what he said when asked about the team’s strengths and weaknesses:
“On their day, they’re a match for any side in the league. They’ve beaten Wigan, Sunderland, Wednesday, Plymouth and Oxford – and they weren’t lucky wins. When it clicks, their football is a joy to watch, but it hasn’t happened enough this season.
“As for weaknesses, defending from set-pieces has been a problem. They’ve also struggled to break down sides who pack men behind the ball.”
Read more HERE
Neil on Lincoln test
Here’s some of what the Sunderland boss had to say ahead of today’s match.
“Of course we need points to try and stay in the top six to stay in the hunt to try and get out of the league.
“I’m sure they need points for different reasons.
“Let’s be brutally honest, in this game coming up there is certainly going to be more pressure on us than there is on them.
“That’s fine because I knew that when I took the job.”
Team news
Let’s start with the Black Cats team news.
Defender Danny Batth is training with the rest of the group again following several weeks out with an ankle issue and should be available for today’s match.
Nathan Broadhead has played some part in training this week, but remains a doubt for the match after missing the last two fixtures with a hamstring issue.
Today’s match will come too soon for Alex Pritchard, yet the playmaker looks set to play again this season and is making progress as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Aiden McGeady (knee) could also feature again before the end of the season.
It’s Matchday!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s League One fixture at Lincoln.
The Black Cats have just eight games left as they battle to finish in the play-offs.
We’ll have all the build-up from the LNER Stadium, as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.