Sunderland managed to leap up to the top of the Championship standings with a narrow victory away at Hull City on Sunday, with many star performers standing out for Regis Le Bris’ men.
The Black Cats had to be patient and wait an extra day to get back into the thick of it in the second tier, with all other Championship teams playing on the Saturday, but a win was secured all the same courtesy of a second half strike by summer recruit Wilson Isidor.
The new loan signing from Zenit St. Petersburg is proving to be a hit with the Sunderland faithful early on, with this goal continuing his on-fire streak in league action.
Isidor's performance vs Hull
Isidor’s breakaway winner against the Tigers means the 24-year-old attacker has now found the back of the net three times in his last four second tier encounters, as Sunderland begin to uncover a first-team option up top they can rely on.
This strike away at the MKM Stadium is surely the pick of the bunch from his early Black Cats back catalogue, as the confident Frenchman galloped forward with pace to burn before delicately chipping Ivor Pandur in style, with the unbelievable counter-attack move sending the away masses into pandemonium.
Away from the goal, Isidor wasn’t the most involved in the action – with only nine touches of the ball coming his way – but Le Bris will love how deadly the 24-year-old is in decisive moments, with that strike sending his team back to the top of the ever-changing Championship summit.
The three points were also secured due to a valiant defensive effort from Le Bris’ visitors, away from Isidor’s heroics up the other end, with another loan face in Chris Mepham taking all the plaudits at the full-time whistle for his team’s dogged clean sheet.
Mepham's performance in numbers
Mepham has managed to make Daniel Ballard’s absences from recent line-ups feel less notable, with the AFC Bournemouth loanee slotting into the heart of defence seamlessly so far.
Amassing 65 touches of the ball, the experienced Welshman – who has 94 appearances in the second tier under his belt – was calm and controlled under pressure, with only six of his 51 passes going astray to keep an impressive 88% passing accuracy in-tact, alongside also battling well when it came to asserting himself into duels.
Stat
Mepham
Minutes played
90
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Touches
65
Accurate passes
45/51 (88%)
Clearances
5
Interceptions
1
Total tackles
1
Total duels won
4/4
Stats by Sofascore
It was an all-round superb display by the brand new Black Cats number 26, with Mepham winning every single duel that came his way to continually thwart Hull in attacking areas, which led to Tim Walter’s home side accumulating zero shots on target across the full 90 minutes.
Mepham was rewarded for his efforts in the 1-0 win with a positive 8/10 match rating after the game by Roker Report journalist Andy Tomlinson, who labelled his display as “accomplished” and even further stated that he is beginning to strike up a formidable centre-back partnership with Black Cats captain Luke O’Nien.
He was, therefore, even better than Isidor as he was superb in all of his work throughout the game and helped to provide the platform for the striker to go and win the match.
That is now three clean sheets from five league games for the 6 foot 4 star since making the loan switch to the Stadium of Light happen, with Le Bris presumably confident that more imperious displays will come from the Welshman as the season drags on.
Now, Sunderland will be aiming to make it it two victories from two on the road when travelling to Luton Town this Wednesday night, in order to tighten their grip on top spot even more.
Sunderland wasted £10m on Black Cats dud who earned more than Ballard
Sunderland fell victim to lot of a transfer blunders around this time.
ByKelan SarsonOct 18, 2024