Wilson Isidor, Jobe Bellingham and the rest of the vibrant young team of Régis Le Bris have not yet been given wide promotion. This decisive victory, with Isidore’s winning goal well won, not only preserved Sunderland’s unbeaten home record in the Championship this season, but also kept them fourth in points and one place behind the sudden death. Sheffield United.
Three games without a tie left Chris Wilder’s team three points behind leaders Leeds and trailing second-placed Burnley on goal difference. As the round trip from Bramall Lane to the Stadium of Light is 260 miles by road, an eight pm kick-off on a bank holiday coinciding with public transport shutting down in the north-east probably wasn’t the clearest of decisions.
Throw in some wintry weather that turned afternoon rain to a dreary evening sweat and it was no wonder that many Sheffield United supporters were cursing the trip north from South Yorkshire on television.
Not that those radio executives cared about live viewers working to ice frozen post-party wind screens at night, which served up enough dramatic subplots to make the audience turn their seats, perhaps disappointed by the absence of some leading lights.
With both sides struggling with the kind of injuries that tend to bite when the fixture list is heavily stacked, Sheffield United arrived without, among others, leading scorer Tyrese Campbell while Le Bris 17-year-old prodigy Chris Rigg remained in Sunderland’s place of negotiation.
No matter; The tension soon rose as the eagle-eyed referee, Matthew Donohue, spotted Lucas O’Nien’s strong shirt on Kieffer Moore’s shirt as a free kick fell on the floor and immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Moore though looked distinctly frightened, and his heel scuffed too close to Anthony Patterson, who kept his legs.
That 14th-minute penalty seemed to encourage Sunderland’s first try and when Jack Robinson made a royal clearance from Chris Mepham, the ball slipped into the path of Eliezer Mayenda and he found himself in front of the goal by Michael Cooper. . Mayenda admirably kept his composure and, with poise personified, shot a courtesy left-footed shot past the visiting goalkeeper.
It was time for Sheffield United’s Gus Hamer to emphasize why he is such a fan of the attacking midfielder and, sure enough, his low cross was quickly deflected into his own goal by O’Nien.
It’s no secret that Le Bris is on the market for a new striker or another this month, but if Isidore keeps doing better this way, he could still save Sunderland some money. When Sheffield United’s Sydie Peck lost possession in the middle of a Zenit Saint Petersburg loanee, he sensed an opportunity and, after making Anel Ahmedhodzic dance around, Isidor duly beat a low, angled, high-speed shot past Cooper.
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His seventh goal of the season left Wilder with much to think about. With Adil Aouchiche and Mayenda missing decent early chances, the Sheffield United manager must have been worried by the way Le Bris managed to succeed in often leaving his central defenders, Ahmedhodzic and Robinson isolated and vulnerable.
However, if the Sunderland manager seemed to be shifting his starting formation strategy into a much more divisive 4-4-2 system, Le Bris must be mindful of his unfortunate part in conceding the pleasure of recently scoring goals.
That failure saw the Bulls slip to a draw at Blackburn and defeat at Stoke in the past week alone. And it meant that, even though Isidore was pacing the Wilder defense repeatedly, and Bellingham was once again in the middle of nowhere for 19 years, the Stadium of Light remained a distinct monster.
Despite Bellingham heading a left-footed shot over the bar and the impressive Aouchiche regularly teeing up Wilder for the finish, Sunderland lived dangerously at times. In fact, as the clock ticked to a stop, he began to go visibly on his face, but as if compelling. Patronage A kind of honors other ambitious twist, not intended to overwhelm, largely abandoned.