Sunderland 1-2 Ipswich Town: Nathan Broadhead inspires visitors as season begins with defeat

Sunderland fell to a disappointing defeat on the opening night of their Championship campaign despite a late really with ten men.

Tony Mowbray's side had been excellent through the opening exchanges of the game but fell behind to goals from Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst either side of the half time interval.

A late Dan Neil volley gave the home side hope of rescuing a point despite Trai Hume having been shown a red card not long previous, but in the end it proved to large a hurdle to overcome as the visitors held out for the win.

Sunderland made all the running in the early stages, moving the ball quickly and often pressuring Ipswich into gifting back possession with their high pressing. Low crosses from Clarke and then Bellingham at the byline were just about hacked clear of the box from the visitors, before Neil saw a drive deflected just wide after good work from Hemir.

Mowbray's side were dominating possession but Ipswich were a real threat on the counter, and they were went within inches of taking the lead when Davis met a cross free in space at the back post. The full back beat patterson and looked certain to score, only for O'Nien to make an incredible clearance of the goalline.

An open game was yielding chances at both ends, Ekwah's low drive palmed to the feet of Bellingham by Hladky. The midfielder looked set to mark his debut with a goal, but could only turn his first-time effort over the bar. The game had settled into a familiar pattern, Sunderland seeing more of the ball but Ipswich breaking well. Chaplin had an effort deflected just wide at one end, before Hume was just unable to score at the other end in a goalmouth scramble.

It looked as if it would be level at the break but the hosts were hit with a sucker punch in stoppage time, Davis striking an effort from the edge of the box which Broadhead was able to bundle in from close range.

Sunderland worked a couple of half chances just after the break, Hemir just unable to get a shot away before Neil headed over the bar at the back post. When Ipswich's first chance came they were ruthless, Hirst running onto Broadhead's through ball and rifling na effort into the roof of the net. Incredibly it was almost three a minute late, an audacious chip from distance beating Patterson and dropping into the crossbar.

Sunderland regained their footing to an extent but they were finding it hard to break Ipswich down, the visitors increasingly comfortable sitting off the game and looking to break where possible. The hosts were laboured and all hopes of getting something from the game looked to be extinguished when a loose pass allowed the visitors to break, Hume forced into a cynical foul that left the referee with no choice but to send him off.

Despite their numerical disadvantage Sunderland did begin to generate some pressure, Cirkin and then Clarke both seeing efforts deflected wide. Cirkin was beginning to cause problems and gave his side hope when he broke to the byline and crossed for Neil, who fired a first-time volley past Vladky.

Sunderland continued to push through thirteen minutes of stoppage time and came within inches of what would have been a stunning equaliser, only to see Hladky turn Neil's back-post volley onto the post.

Sunderland XI: Patterson; Hume, Ballard, O'Nien, Cirkin (Huggins, 90); Neil, Ekwah (Gooch, 86), Jobe (Pritchard, 58); Roberts, Clarke, Hemir (Ba, 58)

Subs: Bishop, Triantis, Batth, Bennette, Huggins, Rigg

Ipswich Town XI: Hladky; Donacien (Ball, 90), Woolfenden, Burgess; Burns, Morsy, Luongo, Davis (Leigh, 9) Chaplin (Hutchinson, 75), Broadhead (Harness, 72), Hirst (Ladapo, 75)

Subs: Slicker,Evans, Taylor, Jackson

Bookings: Hume, 31 Burns, 35 Hladky, 55 Morsy, 61 Ballard, 80

Red Card: Hume, 72

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