Story of the day as Sunderland thrash Cheltenham to go top of League One after Ross Stewart double plus Bailey Wright, Luke O'Nien and Leon Dajaku goals
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Ross Stewart scored twice for the Black Cats after Bailey Wright’s headed opener to put the hosts in full control at the half-time interval.
Second-half goals from Luke O’Nien and substitute Leon Dajaku, his first for the club, then put even more gloss on the scoreline for Lee Johnson’s side.
Here’s how the game played out at the Stadium of Light:
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RECAP: Sunderland 5 (Wright, 11) (Stewart, 29, 37) (O’Nien, 65) Cheltenham 0
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Hoffmann, Winchester, Flanagan (Alves, 57), Wright, Huggins, Evans, O’Nien, McGeady (Dajaku, 61), Broadhead, O’Brien, Stewart (Pritchard, 73)
- Subs: Burge, Alves, Taylor, Neil, Pritchard, Embleton, Dajaku
- Cheltenham XI: Flinders, Long, Hussey, Pollock (May, 45), Freestone, Thomas, Sercombe, Chapman, Blair, Perry, Joseph
- Subs: Evans, May, Williams, Bonds, Horton, Barkers, Norton
61’ O’Brien shot tipped over
This could have been more than three.
Sunderland cut Cheltenham open again there as Alves’ pass found Stewart, who cut the ball back for Broadhead but Long intercepted the pass.
The ball then dropped to O’Brien, whose effort bounced into the ground and was tipped over by Flinders.
From the resulting corner, Evans’ shot was also saved by the Cheltenham keeper.
56’ Sunderland going top
Wigan are still losing against Sheffield Wednesday which means Sunderland would go top of the table as things stand.
At the moment it looks like they could score more here.
A forward pass from Wright wasn’t cleared by Flinders and Stewart almost converted into an empty net but Long was back to make a block on the line.
54’ More chances
Just after the Sunderland fans were chanting ‘we’re top of the league’, O’Brien played an excellent reverse pass through to Broadhead whose effort from close range was saved by Flinders.
Moments later McGeady set up Broadhead whose shot from a tight angle found the side netting.
48’ A change of shape for the visitors
Looks like the visitors have matched Sunderland up and gone 4-4-2 as well.
May has joined Joseph up top, after centre-back Pollock made way.