Sunderland drew 2-2 once again at the Stadium of Light in a game that could have really gone either way. We were relatively comfortable with our lead until Dennis Cirkin gave away a penalty with a rather needless foul and then the away side took the lead with a fantastic strike. Just before added time Cirkin redeemed himself with an equaliser and both teams then forced saves from the goalkeepers in the dying minutes, although Isidor and Aleksic really should have scored.
ANTHONY PATTERSON: 8/10
Conceded from a penalty and a bit of a wonder goal, made a really good save right before the penalty and made sure that he wasn;t caught out from an audacious kickoff-strike immediately after Cirkin’s goal.
TRAI HUME: 7/10
His defensive work was perfectly passable, he created a couple chances and assisted our first goal.
CHRIS MEPHAM: 6/10
He coped fine with Watford’s attacks and did the basics well but he wasn't too busy.
LUKE O’NIEN: 7.5/10
Like Mepham, did well with the basics but has the added bonus of finding the back of the net. His long balls were all over the place though.
DENNIS CIRKIN: 6/10
I’ve gone for a six, which is just average because he caused a goal but also scored one himself. I think he was pretty decent when we were trying to find an equaliser in general as well, working well on the wing.
SALIS ABDUL SAMED: 6/10
He didn’t really touch the ball that much and I thought there were some instances where he was struggling to deal with their attackers. Saying that though, he didn’t really make any glaring errors; he just needed to be a bit more present.
DAN NEIL: 6.5/10
He was alright and I thought he was decent at fishing the ball back after they made a clearance. His defensive duties were usually performed well, you could argue he should have closed down their man for the second goal, it was still a great effort though.
PATRICK ROBERTS: 5.5/10
He was a bit weak at times, couldn’t produce much in the final third and only had one shot at goal all game. Roberts had a few bright moments however.
CHRIS RIGG: 6.5/10
I think he struggles more against the more physical outfits in this league but it was an okay shift from him. Threatened to score once or twice.
ENZO LE FÉE: 7/10
Caused the second goal with a corner kept low, however I think a lot of his crosses lacked height today and they were easily cleared, worked in the end though. Made a lot of decent runs as well.
WILSON ISIDOR: 7/10
Made a really good run early on and assisted Cirkin’s goal, he really had to score in second half stoppage time with that one-on-one but he had a decent game overall.
SUBS:
MILAN ALEKSIC: 6.5/10
Should have scored with a one-on-one also at the death but he made a couple of decent runs that could have been rewarded on a slightly different day.
IAN POVEDA: 5/10
Poveda kept running away from goal with the ball when he perhaps should have looked to make a pass and when he did manage to get into a dangerous position he took too long to cross and lost it. There’s a player in there somewhere I feel.
ELIEZER MAYENDA: 6/10
Wasn’t very impactful but Poveda was out on the right by the time he came on and Isidor was down the middle.
DAN BALLARD: N/A
Came on to replace Mepham and didn’t have much to do because we were the ones searching for a goal while he was on the pitch.
