Tag Archives: Sunderland

8th February 2025- Championship, Sunderland 2 Watford 2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cn8yzdlnwnwt#Line-ups

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1  2

Report: Sunderland 2-2 Watford – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Dennis Cirkin scored an 89th-minute equaliser as Sunderland preserved their unbeaten home record with a draw against Watford.

Sky: The Black Cats took an early lead thanks to Luke O’Nien but looked set to suffer their first home defeat of the season after Tom Dele-Bashiru’s penalty and a stunning effort from Imran Louza in the first minute of the second half.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Sunderland 2 Watford 2

Sunderland 2 Watford 2 minute-by-minute report

Cleverley not letting late equaliser cloud his pleasure at performance

Successful small steps appear to be the way to take giant strides

Louza and Dele-Bashiru ‘controlled the game for large parts’

Taking a short-term view is the key to longer-term improvement

To substitute or not to substitute – that was the question we asked Cleverley

Fran’s Watford Blog: This was a very impressive performance from the Hornets. I don’t think anyone in the away end expected anything other than a defeat, so to come so close to ending Sunderland’s unbeaten run of home games was admirable. It was a wonderful team performance with some moments of real quality. First Doumbia winning the penalty. The header just before had caused Patterson problems, but the youngster continued to fight for the ball to win the spot kick. Then Dele-Bashiru stepped up and was totally unfazed by the opposition goalkeeper and fans who were trying to unnerve him. It was a confident strike which sent us into the break with some hope. Then Louza’s goal, which was a thing of beauty. There is something incredibly special about being behind a goal when one like that is scored. Every fan who had got up at the crack of dawn to travel to the game thoroughly deserved to see that. The fact that Louza tried another audacious shot immediately after the restart following the equaliser made me very happy indeed.

From the Rookery End: DCW and Mike convened the morning after Watford’s 2-2 draw away at Sunderland to assess the performance and reflect on some much needed reasons to be cheerful – a very steady debut for Egil Selvik, an encouraging first start for Doumbia, a promising central defensive partnership of Pollock and Abankwah, and an absolute worldie from Imran Louza. If only we could defend set pieces…

28th September 2024- Championship, Watford 2 Sunderland 1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cg56qnyd3qrt#Line-ups

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1  2

Report: Watford 2-1 Sunderland – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Sunderland missed the chance to go top of the Championship when they were beaten by Watford at Vicarage Road. The visitors were looking to take advantage of West Brom’s defeat at Sheffield Wednesday earlier on Saturday, but fell behind to Festy Ebosele’s opening goal.

Sky: And it was the home side who got the game’s decisive third breakthrough just six minutes of the game remaining, when Kwadwo Baah was upended in the area by O’Nien, allowing Dele-Bashiru to step up and convert from the spot.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 2 Sunderland 1

Watford boss knows fans are asking why Baah isn’t starting

Baah’s power and Ogbonna’s assuredness key to Watford win

BHappy: It’s a great win, obviously, on so many levels.  The first in five ends a winless run and the nature of it underlines that summer portents of a relegation struggle look off the mark.  More than anything, to beat a strong side like Sunderland (and, yes, second in the league but then everyone’s within a win or so of second in this division.  Almost everyone.) without playing dreadfully well (“and with Porto at right wing back” – Cathal afterwards) says an awful lot for this side.  Tom has talked of making Vicarage Road a fortress.  We’re well on the way.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Vicarage Road was bouncing at the end. The Hornets had been excellent in the first half, while Sunderland had the better of the second half. But the Watford defence was resilient and the win, if a bit fortunate, was very welcome.  Most of the players impressed. Larouci had a much better game than he has of late. Chakvetadze, Kayembe and Sissoko were their usual reliable selves. I really enjoyed Ebosele’s performance, he showed strength and pace and a willingness to run at the defence, he put in some decent crosses and his goal was excellent. Porteous suffered in comparison, having a bit of a mare at right wing back. Bayo had another frustrating afternoon, but he did get into some dangerous positions. Sadly, the same could not be said of Jebbison when he came on.

From The Rookery End: Watford are back to winning ways, and we were there to see an intriguing afternoon unfold. Mike, Jas, Jon and Kieran convened at Full Time to talk through a thrilling win for the Hornets, trying to work out what Watford’s best starting XI is along the way. You can also hear from makeshift Right Wing Back Ryan Porteous, who spoke to DCW the day before the game.

27th April 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Sunderland 0

https://www.skysports.com/football/watford-vs-sunderland/teams/485241

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Sky: Tom Cleverley was able to celebrate his appointment as permanent manager with the club’s first home victory since November 28, ending a run of 12 winless games.

BBC: A dull end-of-season affair between two mid-table sides was settled by a moment of quality midway through the second half.  Ismaël Koné played a perfect pass in behind the Sunderland defence and youngster Andrews coolly slotted past keeper Anthony Patterson.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Sunderland 0

A home win and a clean sheet, but not many positives otherwise

A home win, light relief – but home form has to be much better next season

BHappy: What followed was various ebbs and flows of a match-up with a lot of things not going for it.  Two average-to-mediocre Championship sides with not an awful lot to play for in in constipated form…  three of our last four games had finished nil-nil, Sunderland’s last four had featured a grand total of two goals.  We hadn’t won here since November, Sunderland were on a run of two wins in fourteen.  It was never likely to be a classic.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The game had been real end of season fare.  It wasn’t great, but it was considerably better than the reverse fixture, which was absolutely terrible.  Dennis had a ‘mare.  Koné wasn’t much better in the first half but is forgiven for his stunning pass to set up the goal for Andrews.  Grieves didn’t have much of a chance on his debut as nobody seemed to want to pass to him.  The positives are that the goal was a thing of beauty and a home win to finish the season was very welcome.  Tom Cleverley was saying all the right things, and I am excited to see what he does with the team next season.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68862294

4th October 2023- Championship, Sunderland 2 Watford 0

https://www.skysports.com/football/sunderland-vs-watford/teams/484820

BBC: Sunderland continued their fine form in the Championship as they inflicted a third straight defeat on Watford, a day after boss Valerien Ismael signed a contract extension.

Sky: Watford’s miserable night got worse with three minutes remaining when substitute Ryan Andrews was given a straight red card for a reckless tackle on Jack Clarke on halfway.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Sunderland 2 Watford 0

Everyone may be on the same page – but currently it’s grim reading

Ismael locked players in to get answers – and he wasn’t accepting excuses

Not all players acknowledging fans at Sunderland is ‘unacceptable’ says Ismael

Fran’s Watford Blog: There were loud boos from the travelling Hornets and some in the crowd got rather animated as they expressed their displeasure, so much so that the stewards got involved.  It was another frustrating loss.  Based on possession and chances it had been an even game, but the Hornets were undone by poor defending and being wasteful with their chances.  There was an argument that we were unlucky to go behind in the first half as we had been on top and should have had a penalty just before they scored the first.  But you can’t defend like that and expect to get something out of the game, and we never looked like getting back into it once the second goal went in.  I do worry about Ismaël’s insistence on the players playing out from the back as they are clearly not comfortable doing so.  Hoedt, in particular, looks to be in a complete panic while looking for a pass.  That doesn’t help anybody’s confidence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66932475

29th April 2023- Championship, Sunderland 2 Watford 2

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1  2

Attendance: 44,944

BBC Sport: Sunderland kept their play-off hopes alive as they fought back from 2-0 down to earn a stoppage-time draw with Watford at the Stadium of Light.

Sky Sports: Christian Kabasele and Ryan Porteous headed Watford into a two-goal lead but Sunderland came fighting back, with Luke O’Nien halving the deficit before Roberts’ moment of brilliance deep into stoppage time.

BHappy: If there’s criticism to be levelled based on this game in particular, Chris Wilder’s ultra-conservative substitutions…  Bacuna for Asprilla, Ngakia for Sarr, Hoedt for Andrews… bear consideration.  The last quarter of the game saw a now exhausted and isolated Davis as our only outlet, pressure invited further as Sunderland chased the game.  Much easier to assess those decisions after the match of course.  We were two minutes from a fine and unexpected win… and it wasn’t as if the bench (or the squad, given availability) was overburdened with viable attacking options.  Aráujo would surely have required Davis to stay on the pitch to have a chance of being worthwhile.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The players were applauded off after what had been a spirited performance against a team who had something to play for.  It may be that we benefitted from the absence of João Pedro as we tend to rely on him too much and he ends up trying to do everything which often means he is not where he should be.  It was a great shame that, after taking a two-goal lead, panic in the defence allowed the home side to take a share of the points, but it was a decent game of football and, for the first time in a while, my heart was racing during the game as it felt like it meant something, and I really cared.