Sunderland 2 Wigan 1: Highlights after Dennis Cirkin and Elliot Embleton goals earn Cats big win
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Tony Mowbray’s side fell a goal behind just before half-time when former Sunderland player Charlie Wyke converted from inside the penalty area.
Mowbray made a tactical change at the break, as Amad came off the bench, and the hosts posed more of an attacking threat.
Elliot Embleton drew the Black Cats level in the 54th minute, before Dennis Cirkin scored the winner 18 minutes from time.
Here’s how the game played out:
RECAP: Sunderland 2 (Embleton, 54) (Cirkin, 72) Wigan 1 (Wyke, 44)
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Patterson, Gooch (Amad, 45), O’Nien, Batth, Cirkin, Alese, Neil, Embleton (Wright, 90+1), Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke
- Subs: Bass, Wright, Matete, Dajaku, Michut, Amad, Bennette
- Wigan XI: Amos, Kerr, Whatmough, Tilt (Aasgaard, 77), McClean, Naylor (Fletcher, 81) , Power, Darikwa, Keane, Broadhead (Shinnie, 81), Wyke (Magennis, 68)
- Subs: Jones, Bennett, Cousins, Shinnie, Aasgaard, Magennis, Fletcher
It;s Matchday!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship fixture against Wigan Athletic.
The Black Cats will be looking to get back to winning ways following last weekend’s defeat at Swansea, yet it won’t be easy against a Wigan side who have the best away record in the second tier.
Stick around and refresh the page for live updates, analysis reaction and more throughout the day.
Team news
We’ll start with the Sunderland team news.
The Black Cats will once again be without a recognised striker for today’s match, yet Ellis Simms is making progress after four successive games with a toe injury.
Ross Stewart and Dan Ballard also remain unavailable, with both likely to be back training just before the World Cup break. Mowbray may want to give them that three-week period to get fully up to speed.
Sunderland captain Corry Evans is suspended for today’s match after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season against Swansea.
Dennis Cirkin returned to the Sunderland bench at Swansea following a hamstring issue and played 90 minutes for the under-21s side on Monday.
The defender could be named in the starting XI today.
Mowbray on Wigan
Here’s what Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray had to say about WIgan following The Latics’ 1-0 win over Blackburn on Tuesday.
“I think they have a really experienced team. I watched them on the tele on Tuesday.
“They have a lot of players who have been associated with this club as well and have the best away record in the football league and not just the Championship.
“It’s a tough game for us is what I’m trying to say.
“They won League One last year and Sunderland finished fifth so it will be a very difficult game against a side which finished ahead of us last year, and it looks like a similar team
“Broadhead is obviously there and has given them a different string to their bow I think. He’s very mobile and has added to the physicality they have. Charlie Wyke is obviously back now.
“You look at the players they brought off the bench the other night, they all seen to be 6 ft 3 strikers coming on.”
“They are experienced and are doing very well in the league so it will be a tough game.”
How Wigan are shaping up
Wigan have moved up to ninth in the Championship table after winning the League One title last season.
They also have several former Sunderland players in their ranks, including Nathan Broadhead, Charlie Wyke, Max Power, James McClean and Ashley Fletcher.
To find out more we caught up with Barry Worthington from the Progress with Unity - Wigan Athletic Podcast on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.
Here’s what he said when asked about The Latics’ start to the season:
“Excellent. You come up from League One and it’s a massive step. All you are looking for is to make sure you don’t go back down again.
“Our away form has been something else, as it was last season, and we’ve built on that this season.
“We drew away at Norwich early doors, had wins at Luton and Huddersfield who were both in the play-offs.
“It was just our home form which was a little bit dodgy but we beat Blackburn on Tuesday night.”
The Wigan view
Wigan defender Curtis Tilt spoke to the media ahead of today’s match.
Here’s what he had to say ahead of his side’s trip to Wearside:
“We got our first home win of the season, and hopefully there are more of those to come. We’re travelling to Sunderland at the weekend, with the aim to come back with the three points and hopefully keep climbing the table.
“We know they will be well organised, and we know that they are a fighting team who play a good brand of football. We know they have large crowds, and we’ve got to go there and be on our A-game to come back with anything.
“While we respect every opponent that we face, we know it’s all about us and what we do. We’ve shown that we can compete in this league, so if we can stay consistent with our fundamental work and philosophies, we know we will do well.
“Now we’ve got our first win at home, hopefully, we can go into this game and get back-to-back wins.”
Predicted line-ups
Here are our predicted line-ups for today’s match:
Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson Gooch, O’Nien, Batth, Alese, Neil, Embleton, Roberts, Amad, Pritchard, Clarke
Predicted Wigan XI: Amos, Kerr, Whatmough, Tilt, McClean, Naylor, Power, Darikwa, Keane, Broadhead, Wyke
Tony Mowbray in his pre-match programme notes
“Six former Sunderland players also return to Wearside today, including Charlie Wyke, and I think I speak for everyone in the game when I say that it was great to see him back scoring last weekend after what I’m sure was an incredibly challenging period in his career.
“This afternoon, we look to return to winning ways after defeat at Swansea City last weekend. It was a difficult opening 45 minutes for us, but the reaction of the team in the second half was pleasing.
“If anyone was going to score late on, it was going to be us - it didn’t come and that was frustrating, but we showed that we are able to stand up to adversity and that is an important quality to have.
“I hope the supporters saw that fight, especially in the second half, and I think they understand where this team has come from and that we aren’t going to win every game in this league at this moment in time.”
