'Very encouraging' - James Copley's Sunderland player ratings as Cats played Stoke - including two 8s

Stoke City scored a late winner against Sunderland at the Bet365 Stadium in the Championship on Sunday to hand interim boss Ryan Shawcross a first win.

Both goalkeepers saved multiple shots in the first-half as Sunderland should have been awarded a penalty. Eliezer Mayenda had the chance to put Sunderland ahead after the break but missed a crucial chance before Tom Cannon’s eventual winner

Stoke City started the game well and could have grabbed a couple of early goals. Cannon saw one effort smothered by Anthony Patterson before the ball was cleared by Luke O’Nien. The Potters striker then did well seconds later to give Chris Mepham the slip, though Sunderland’s goalkeeper was there once again to thwart the Leicester City loanee.

Milan Aleksic had Sunderland’s first chance of the game in the 29th minute. The Serbian midfielder won the ball in the middle and played a good one-two with Wilson Isidor before covering significant ground. However, the midfielder’s shot was well saved by Stoke City goalkeeper Viktor Johansson. Around the 35-minute mark, Isidor latched onto a long throw from Trai Hume but saw his effort superbly turned onto the post by Johansson in what was a brilliant save to keep the scores level.

Adil Aouchiche had another effort saved after Jobe Bellingham’s ball into the box before Lewis Koumas tested Patterson once again. Seconds later Trai Hume saw a powerful drive saved by Stoke City’s goalkeeper, who turned in a display of the highest quality during the opening 45 minutes.

The two teams headed into the break with the scores level. Sunderland fans, however, were left wondering why their team weren’t awarded a penalty after Wouter Burger’s clear shirt pull on Chris Mepham following a Black Cats corner. Referee James Bell and his assistants Ian Cooper and Matthew McGrath waved play on after the incident.

There were no changes at half-time as the team emerged for the second stanza. Dennis Cirkin found himself in the referee’s notebook after the break after preventing a Stoke City counter. The Sunderland left-back joined Johansson, Ashley Phillips, Lynden Gooch and Andrew Moran, who were all carded for the home side in the first half.

Patterson was able to pull off another superb stop from Koumas on 61 minutes after the winger got the better of Cirkin. Mepham then cleared the ball for a corner as Stoke City threatened to take a second-half lead buoyed on by a bullish Bet365 Stadium. Seconds later Aouchiche’s deflected shot hit Stoke’s post. Le Bris turned to Aji Alese and Patrick Roberts to get things moving with half an hour left to play. The pair replaced Cirkin and Aleksic.

Stoke City were on the front foot when they brought on Sam Gallagher for Andrew Moran before Eliezer Mayenda missed a header from six yards out following Aouchiche’s cross in from the right. The Spaniard simply had to score. Minutes later, he was withdrawn by Le Bris for Aaron Connolly, with Sunderland already having reverted to a 4-4-2 formation. Aouchiche forced another save from Johansson with even minutes left to play.

Gooch was withdrawn with five minutes left to play for Enda Stevens, with interim manager Shawcross also turning to Michael Rose, who replaced Phillips. However, it was Stoke City with the breakthrough after Cannon latched on to O’Nien and Mepham’s mix-up to slam home the home side’s winner in the 92nd minute.

Here, we take a look at how James Copley rated each Sunderland player after the game against Stoke City in the Championship at the Bet365 Stadium on Sunday: