EVEN on the day of a bombshell club statement and the news that Alex Pritchard has “made himself unavailable to play for Sunderland”, Jack Clarke still finds a way to get the headlines.
There was no Pritchard for the Black Cats against Stoke City and, unless there’s a swift, dramatic and unlikely resolution to the issues that led to the statement which dropped shortly before 2pm on Saturday, the 30-year-old looks to have played his last game for the club.
That’s a major blow for Michael Beale, who has talked up the importance of Pritchard in recent weeks. But no Sunderland player is more important than Clarke and the winger put on a show as the Black Cats impressively got back to winning ways.
How Beale needed this. As if the under-fire head coach didn’t have enough on his plate on the back of the Hull City defeat, fan unrest and the fallout from his press conference comments this week, he then lost a key player in Pritchard. How uncomfortable Beale would have been had he lost another game.
But in the end Saturday’s game couldn’t have worked out much better for the under-pressure home boss, for it was the two players he brought into the team – Mason Burstow and Abdoullah Ba – who scored the goals that set Sunderland on their way to their much-needed victory.
He also moved Pierre Ekwah forward into a more advanced midfield role and the ex-West Ham man flourished, scoring the third goal. Jenson Seelt gave Stoke hope with an own-goal but an unlikely comeback never looked on the cards.
Given the way things have played out on and off the pitch over the last week or so, a cagey and nervous Sunderland opening was perhaps expected, but the Black Cats were bright early on.
Unsurprisingly, Clarke was at the heart of Sunderland’s bright play. He should have done better when he blazed over from inside the box just after quarter of an hour but almost made amends immediately as he teed up Ekwah, who wrong-footed Stoke keeper Daniel Iversen but hit the side-netting.
Stoke did pose a threat on the counter. Twice in the opening half hour, South Korean Bae-Junho went close, testing Patterson with one effort before seeing a second flash just over the bar.
Junho was the dangerman and had Stoke’s best chance 10 minutes before the break, denied by a brilliant Luke O’Nien goalline clearance before Luke Cundle fired over the rebound.
And after surviving that scare, Sunderland forced the leveller. Clarke – inevitably – was involved. He should have scored or created the opening goal a moment or two before he did, robbing the returning Lynden Gooch of possession but letting Stoke off the hook with a rare example of poor decision making. There was no repeat two minutes before the break, the winger darting down the left and digging out a cross that looped into the air and was turned into the path of Burstow by Ba, the Chelsea forward bundling home.
Stoke should have levelled just 22 seconds after the restart but Tyrese Campbell lacked composure and blazed over from inside the box. Gooch then flashed in a low cross that only needed a touch but found its way to the grateful hands of Patterson.
It was a rare opportunity for the Stoke right-back to get forward, the 28-year-old having been pinned back by Clarke in the first half. And normal service was soon resumed. Clarke, the game’s best player by far, cut in from the left after a clinical counter and teed up Ba, who kept his cool and slotted home.
Clarke very nearly got on the scoresheet himself just before the hour mark, a deflected strike bouncing just wide of Iverson’s right post.
Ba, scorer of the second, was creator of the third, finding Ekwah in the box, who found the bottom corner 20 minutes from time. A Gooch cross was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Seelt four minutes later but Sunderland comfortably saw it out.
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