Sunderland 0 Preston 0: Highlights as Tony Mowbray's side are held to goalless draw at Stadium of Light
and live on Freeview channel 276
The Black Cats dominated possession for large spells and played some neat football between both boxes, yet they couldn’t find a breakthrough.
New signings Amad Diallo, Jewison Bennette and Abdoullah Ba were all brought on in the second half.
Here’s how the game played out:
RECAP: Sunderland 0 Preston 0
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Patterson, O’Nien, Batth, Alese, Gooch, Evans (Ba, 60) , Neil, Clarke (Dajaku, 81), Roberts, Embleton (Amad, 60), Pritchard (Bennette, 70)
- Subs: Bass, Wright, Ba, Matete, Dajaku, Bennette, Amad
- Preston XI: Woodman, Storey, Lindsay, Cunningham, Brady (McCann, 86), Whiteman, Browne, Ledson (Woodburn, 72), Fernandez, Evans (Parrott, 68), Riis.
- Subs: Cornell, Diaby, Potts, McCann, Johnson, Woodburn, Parrott.
44’ Embleton efforts blocked
That was almost the opener.
An excellent first-time pass from Roberts sent Embleton away on the right.
The midfielder’s first effort from an angle was blocked by Lindsay, before the ball fell back to the Sunderland man.
His second shot had more power but was saved by Woodman.
41’ Bright run from Embleton
Sunderland have recorded 66% possession so far and played some neat football between the two boxes.
They have just lacked that cutting edge so far, though.
Embleton almost provided that spark as he burst into the Preston box with the ball and won a corner.
Sunderland played the set-piece short but it didn’t come to anything.
34’ A great team move
That would have been an excellent team goal after several short passes saw Pritchard, Embleton, Roberts and Neil combine.
It finished with Roberts curling a first-time effort over the bar from the edge of the box.
30’ Wide from Alese
More good play down Sunderland’s left saw Clarke run at Brown one on one, before releasing Alese after the full-back made an overlapping run.
Alese’s low effort across goal was off target.
19’ Important block from Batth
A chance at the other end as Sunderland are almost caught out.
Riis made a smart run in behind the hosts’ defence but Batth managed to get across the striker and dispossess him.
16’ Sunderland playing out from the back
Sunderland are trying to play out from the back where possible, starting with Patterson.
Pritchard is dropping deep to link up play and was fouled and won a free-kick in his own half.
Sunderland then managed to advance up the pitch before winning a corner which was cleared.