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
and live on Freeview channel 276
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:
A message from the Football Clubs Editor
Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Sunderland AFC coverage 365 days a year.
This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.
Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor
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
One to watch: Alfie May
Forward Alfie May played a key part in Cheltenham’s promotion from League Two last season, scoring eight league goals and providing six assists.
He has already scored four times this season, twice in the league and twice in the Carabao Cup.
How the visitors are shaping up
Since winning the League Two title last season, Cheltenham have won three, drawn three and lost three in the league this season.
The Robins sit 14th in the table following their 2-0 defeat at Wigan on Saturday.
Ahead of their trip to the Stadium of Light, Cheltenham boss Michael Duff said: “We worked incredibly hard last year to get out of the league, so it’s always going to be tougher because you are playing against a better quality of opposition, but it’s better for the players, playing in nicer stadiums and the pitches are better.
“All the things that come with it, but all those nice things make it harder. I don’t think anyone expects us to go up there and get anything out of the game, which is brilliant for us.”
“You shouldn’t have to get a player up for playing in front of 30,000 people, but within the performance, we didn’t do anything well on Saturday.
“We have shown them the pictures of what that looks like and what we need it to look like because if we go up there passive, hoping to get a result, we’ll get murdered, which is what happened at the weekend.
“We went up there more in hope than expectation, hoping we could get something out of the game and if you don’t deliver certain aspects of it, you won’t win the game and that’s what happened.”
Lee Johnson on Cheltenham
Johnson was asked about Cheltenham and manager Michael Duff following Saturday’s win over Bolton.
Former Burnley defender Duff took charge of Burnley in 2018 and won the League Two title with The Robins last season.
“I think Cheltenham are a club who have done really well,” said Johnson.
“It’s a club I know well, my dad was manager there and took them up from non-league into the league.
“We had a lot of players who we loaned there from Bristol City, so I’ve got an understanding of the manager there and his coaching team.
“Having come from Burnley, you see a lot of that structure come out in Cheltenham’s performances as well.
“He’s his own man with his own ideas, but you can see that he has worked under a Premier League manager and a very good one at that for a number of years.”
Sunderland boss Lee Johnson could be forced to make some changes this evening.
Dennis Cirkin will miss tonight’s match if it is confirmed that he suffered a concussion against Bolton on Saturday.
If Cirkin is ruled out, Niall Huggins is expected to start at left-back.
Lynden Gooch is also set to miss the game against Cheltenham with a foot injury, while Callum Doyle will be assessed after suffering a back issue.
It’s Matchday!
Sunderland are back in action - with Cheltenham Town set to visit the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats have won all five of their home games this season and could return to the top of the table with a result tonight.
We’ll have all the build-up, action, analysis and reaction throughout the evening.
Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.