Goals from substitutes Jordan Jones and Chris Maguire, the latter’s late in stoppage-time, saw Sunderland come from two behind to draw against Crewe Alexandra at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday afternoon after Chris Porter and Tom Lowery had seen the hosts lead by two at half-time.
Manager David Artell named an unchanged team from Tuesday’s 2-0 home win against Accrington Stanley as Porter started up front with former Sunderland striker Mika Mandron.
The opening chance of the game came in the 5th minute with Luke Murphy chip a ball in for Porter, whose touch knocked past a defender before going down but not under enough contact for a penalty. Lowery forced a save out of Lee Burge in the Sunderland on 12 minutes before opposite number Dave Richards denied Lynden Gooch at the other end 5 minutes later.
The opener came on the half-hour mark with Ryan Wintle’s through-ball finding Mandron who squared for Porter to tap into the empty net before the lead was doubled 7 minutes later with Mandron getting in down the Alex right before his low cross was finished from close range by Lowery.
The second-half saw Aiden O’Brien and Charlie Wyke fire over in the first 15 minutes of the half before a quadruple substitution by Lee Johnson on 58 minutes as he tried to get his team back in the game (although Grant Leadbitter would only last 7 minutes through injury before being replaced himself). The Alex almost added a third just after the hour with Harry Pickering mis-hitting a shot from the edge of the area before the visitors got back into the game on 76 minutes.
The ball found its way out to Jones who cut in from the left before curling the ball into the top corner of Richards’ goal before their second in the seventh minute of stoppage-time came as Burge’s goal-kick was flicked into the path of Maguire who volleyed in from just outside the area.
The next games for the Alex see us travel to Blackpool on Tuesday night before a trip to Lincoln City next Saturday.
What can we take out of this game?
It’s a game that is satisfying and frustrating in equal measures. If you’d have offered me a point pre-game, I’d have bitten your hand off but the way that the game panned out (despite us having the best of the game for the majority of it against a side that will be amongst the promotion pursuit at the end of the season), it was gutting to have conceded at the end of the game.
Alexandra Stadium
League 1
27/02/2021 4:00 pm
Attendance: 0
Referee: Chris Sarginson
| Crewe Alexandra | Sunderland | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter, Lowery | Jones, Maguire | ||||||
| Richards | Burge | ||||||
| Daniels | McLaughlin | ||||||
| Wood | Sanderson | ||||||
| Beckles | O'Nien | ||||||
| Pickering | Gooch | 59 | |||||
| Lowery | Power | ||||||
| Wintle | Scowen | ||||||
| Murphy | McFadzean | 59 | |||||
| Kirk | O'Brien | 59 | |||||
| Mandron | Wyke | ||||||
| Porter | 85 | McGeady | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Jaaskelainen | Matthews | ||||||
| Powell | Maguire | 59 | |||||
| Lancashire | Diamond | 59 | |||||
| Dale | 85 | Leadbitter | 59 on, 66 off | ||||
| Johnson | Winchester | 66 | |||||
| Walker | Jones | 59 | |||||
| Evans | Vokins | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 13 | Goal attempts | 12 |
| 7 | On Target | 4 |
| 4 | Corners | 4 |
| 13 | Fouls | 13 |
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 44 | % | 56 |