Sunderland 1 Doncaster Rovers 2 RECAP: Story of the day after Reo Griffiths and Tommy Rowe goals on Jermain Defoe's return
and live on Freeview channel 276
The Black Cats fell a goal down when Reo Griffiths opened the scoring with a low shot in the 22nd minute.
Doncaster then doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time after Sunderland failed to clear a corner and Tommy Rowe fired home a second.
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Hide AdSunderland did create better chances after the break, and brought on Jermain Defoe with just under 20 minutes to go.
Corry Evans pulled a late goal back but it was too little too late.
Here’s how the game played out:
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RECAP: Sunderland 1 (Evans, 89) Doncaster Rovers 2 (Griffiths, 22) (Rowe, 45)
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Hoffmann, Winchester (Clarke, 62), Batth, Doyle, Cirkin, Evans, Neil (Matete, 73), Gooch, Embleton (Defoe, 73), Pritchard, Stewart
- Subs: Patterson, Hume, Matete, Roberts, Clarke, Dajaku, Defoe
- Doncaster XI Mitchell, Williams, Olowu, Younger, Seaman, Smith, Rowe, Jackson, Martin (Gardner, 69), Griffiths (Knoyle, 80), Odubeko (Dodoo, 74)
- Subs: Jones, Knoyle, Clayton, Barlow, Dodoo, Gardner, Agard
Team news
Right, let’s look at the team news for today’s match.
Sunderland’s interim boss Mike Dodds has confirmed that both Jermain Defoe and Jay Matete will be in the squad today following their deadline day moves to Sunderland.
Defender Bailey Wright remains sidelined with a calf issue but should be back in contention soon.
Alex Pritchard came off the bench against Bolton last weekend following an injury setback.
In case you missed it
For those who missed it, Roy Keane was on pundit duty last night for Manchester United’s FA Cup match against Middlesbrough.
Keane is the overwhelming favourite with the bookmakers to replace Lee Johnson, and is known to have strong support within the club following talks this week.
When asked about the chances of him taking charge at Sunderland, with a big smile on his face, Keane replied: “I’ve made it clear over the last few years that I’d like to go back as a manager.
“But of course the club has to want you, you have to want to go the club and just as important, the contract has to be right.
“We’ll see how things take shape over the next few days.”
It’s Matchday!
Was Bolton really only a week ago?
So much has happened since Sunderland’s last match, and the Black Cats need to get back to winning ways against Doncaster today.
We’ll have all the build-up ahead of today’s match, as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction from the Stadium of Light.