Sunderland 1 Bradford 1: Story of the night as visitors win penalty shootout and Cats top Papa John's Trophy group
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Lee Johnson named a strong side as the hosts came from behind courtesy of Nathan Broadhead’s equaliser, which cancelled out Theo Robinson’s opener in 90 minutes.
The draw means Sunderland have finished top of their group and will be drawn at home in the next round.
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Hide AdYet the Black Cats have now gone four games without a win in all competitions, with over a week to go ahead of a meeting with promotion rivals Ipswich in League One.
Here’s how the game played out:
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RECAP: Sunderland 1 (Broadhead, 52) Bradford 1 (Robinson, 36) [Bradford win 4-2 on penalties]
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Hoffmann, Richardson, Alves, Younger, Gooch, Sonha (Winchester, 73), O’Nien, Pritchard, Embleton (Taylor, 73), Dajaku, Broadhead (Harris, 57)
- Subs: Burge, Dyce, Wright, Winchester, Taylor, O’Brien, Harris
- Bradford XI: Hornsby, Threlkeld, Cooke, Foulds, Vernam, Kelleher, Evans, Angol (Watt, 45), Robinson, Staunton, Scales
- Subs: O’Donnell, Canavan, Songo’o, Gillead, Watt, Sutton
How Bradford started on Saturday
Here’s the Bradford side which started against Exeter in the FA Cup last time out.
How the visitors are shaping up
Bradford are 12th in League Two and drew 1-1 with Exeter in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Derek Adams’ side have lost both of their Papa John’s Trophy matches, both 3-0 against Lincoln and Manchester United Under-23s, so can’t qualify for the knockout stages.
The Bantams are likely to be without top scorer Andy Cook due to injury for tonight’s match.
Johnson on Bradford fixture
Here’s what Johnson had to say about the recent run of results and tonight’s match.
The Black Cats don’t have another league game until November 20, when they’ll host Ipswich, due to international fixtures.
“There’s a lot of points to play for in the league and I’m 100 per cent sure we’ll turn it around.
“It is pretty tough in terms of the break because we’ve got a lot of internationals away, particularly when a lot of those have been key starters for us.
“We’ll use the Bradford game to top up minutes for those who need it.
“We are already through but we want to build some momentum and win, and then we’ll prepare as best we can with the players who are here, knowing most of the international lads won’t be back until the day before the Ipswich game.”
Team news
Let’s start with the team news.
Johnson is expected to rest the likes of Ross Stewart and Aiden McGeady, who weren’t in the squad against Mansfield on Saturday.
Tom Flanagan, Corry Evans, Callum Doyle, Dennis Cirkin and Dan Neil will all be unavailable as they are away on international duty.
Under-23s players Will Harris and Ellis Taylor are likely to be involved, having been withdrawn at half time during Sunderland U23s 2-2 draw with Stoke City on Sunday afternoon.
Harrison Sohna, Stephen Wearne and Ollie Younger could all be in line to start, given that they were not involved in the game.
Arbenit Xhemajli played the full 90 minutes, strongly suggesting that he will not be involved.
Good Evening!
Sunderland are back in action this evening with Lee Johnson’s side set to face Bradford in the Papa John’s Trophy.
It may be a dead rubber on paper but it will be interesting to see what side Lee Johnson names following three successive defeats.
We’ll have all the build-up ahead of the match as well as in -game analysis and post-match reaction.
Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.