Sunderland 3 Millwall 0: Highlights Amad Diallo, Alex Pritchard and Ellis Simms goals give Cats big win
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After a goalless first half, the Black Cats took the lead when Alex Pritchard’s low cross was flicked on by Ellis Simms and Amad converted at the back post.
Pritchard then doubled his side’s lead when he controlled Lynden Gooch’s cross and beat goalkeeper George Long with a low strike, before Ellis Simms added a third in stoppage time.
The result moves Mowbray’s side up to 10th in the table, one point off a play-off place.
Here’s how the game played out:
RECAP: Sunderland 3 (Amad, 53) (Pritchard, 58) (Simms, 90+3) Millwall 0
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Paterson, Gooch, Batth, O’Nien, Alese, Evans, Neil, Amad (Roberts, 74), Pritchard (Embleton, 62), Clarke (Cirkin, 80), Simms
- Subs: Bass, Hume, Cirkin, Ba, Embleton, Roberts, Dajaku
- Millwall XI: Long, McNamara (Malone, 82), Cresswell, Cooper, M Wallace (Evans, 82), Mitchell, Saville (Bennett, 67) , Honeyman (Styles, 67) , Voglsammer (Shackleton, 67), Flemming, Bradshaw
- Subs: Bialkowski, Hutchinson, Malone, Evans, Shackleton, Styles, Bennett
What to make of that side
So it’s three changes from the side which started against Birmingham last time out.
Lynden Gooch, Aji Alese and Luke O’Nien all return to the starting XI as Trai Hume, Niall Huggins and Bailey Wright drop out.
It looks like Alese will start at left-back, with Dennis Cirkin returning to the bench.
Ross Stewart isn’t named on the bench despite returning to first-team training during the World Cup break.
Millwall are unchanged from their 4-2 win at Preston last time out.
Mowbray in his pre-match programme notes
“We then travelled to Dubai during the break and it was a productive week for the players, who applied themselves well by training hard twice a day in intense heat.
“The trip ended with a friendly and there was a high tempo about the game from the start – the competitive nature helped and although it may have overstepped the mark at times, we got plenty out of it.
“We also had an opportunity to meet some of our overseas fans, who attended an open training session and the game, so I hope they enjoyed the experience and we thank them for their continued support.”
Predicted line-ups
Here are our predicted line-ups for today’s match:
Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson; Gooch, Batth, Alese, Cirkin; Evans, Neil; Amad, Pritchard, Clarke; Simms
Predicted Millwall XI: Long; McNamara, Hutchinson, Cooper, M Wallace; Mitchell, Saville; Bennett, Voglsammer, Flemming; Bradshaw
Gary Rowett on facing Sunderland
Here’s what Millwall boss Gary Rowett had to say about today’s fixture:
“We’re respectful that we’re facing a team who, at home, have a fantastic fan base and a great atmosphere which you’ll always try to use just like we do. Then they’ve got an experienced manager in Tony
“We respect that, but then we go in there to try and be competitive and get a result. If we do that at the end of the day, at the end of the game I’ll look at the league table and go ‘oh, that’s quite nice’. Other than that, it won’t mean too much.
“For us, it’s not a big game, it’s just as big as every other game, but I get the rhetoric because we’re the only game on, we’re in the play-offs and we’ve got a game in hand of course.
“It does add significance externally, really.”
How Millwall are shaping up
Millwall climbed to sixth in the table following a 4-2 win at Preston before the World Cup break, but are just four points ahead of Sunderland in 15th.
To find out more we caught up with Millwall reporter Alex Grace on the latest episode of The Roar podcast:
Here’s what he said when asked about The Lions’ start to the season:
“It’s been a strange one.
“Usually you’ve seen with Millwall they have been associated with keeping clean sheets and not conceding goals, and at the start of the season they were conceding a fair few goals especially away from home.
“There has been a problem with the away form since the start of last season, but at home they have been really strong.
“They started the season playing a five at the back which received quite a lot of criticism at stages because quite a lot of goals were going in and they were struggling to score.
“Since then they’ve gone to a four at the back and it’s changed a lot, just one defeat since then, and they’ve been really solid.”
Mowbray on Millwall fixture
Here’s what the Sunderland boss had to say about Millwall and today’s rearranged fixture.
“Whenever you go there you know you have been in a football game. It will be an intense affair. It should be an interesting game.
“It makes sense for us to play the game, I don’t like being games behind. If we win we will jump up a few places and will be a point off the top-six. It feels like we’ve been off long enough.
“It is good to get back to work and try and get some points. We are looking forward to it. It would be a long ten days if we didn’t have a game.”
Team news
We’ll start with the Sunderland team news.
Lynden Gooch, Dennis Cirkin and Aji Alese are all available again after missing the side’s win at Birmingham last time out.
Luke O’Nien is also available again after sitting out the match at St Andrew’s through suspension.
Ross Stewart (below) has returned to training after three months out with a thigh injury, with Mowbray weighing up whether the forward is ready to be involved today.
Daniel Ballard remains unavailable but Mowbray is hopeful that the defender could return over the festive period following a foot injury.
Edouard Michut is also out with a groin issue.
