Goals

1-0: Wickham (4 – rose to head in after Fletcher had beaten two players to cross from right)

1-1: Adam (15 – collected ball from Moses and beat Vergini and O’Shea before drilling low into far corner)

2-1: Fletcher (23 – Got away from Wilson to head in from Gomez’s cross from a Larsson short corner)

3-1: Fletcher (79 – smashed home Wickham’s cross from close range after a great run by the young striker)

Bookings: Muniesa (foul, 27), Assaidi (foul, 63), Jones (foul, 64), Bardlsey (foul, 66), Van Aanholt (foul, 67), Fletcher (foul, 70)

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Preston): Lenient display in the first half, before he dished out five yellows in seven second half minutes. 7

Attendance: 42,713

Rating: PPP

SAFC Stoke.

Shots on 3 5

Shots off 5 6

Corners 7 4

Fouls 10 17

Offside 2 1

SUNDERLAND (4-1-4-1):

7 Mannone: Barely had anything to do, but did make a great save to deny Assaidi in the second half;

7 Jones: Made some great challenges and got forward to support down the right

8 Vergini: Looked solid alongside O’Shea at centre-back. Growing with every game

8 O’Shea: Managed to nullify the threat posed by Crouch and made some crucial clearances

7 Van Aanholt: Dangerous going forward, while his defensive play is also improving;

8 Cattermole: Apart from a little spell early in the second half, the midfielder was dominant;

7 Buckley: A constant threat on the right and did well to cope with Stoke’s physical side

7 Larsson: His quick-thinking set up Gomez to swing in for Fletcher’s first

7 Gomez: Tidy overall, but did give the ball away on a couple of occasions

9 FLETCHER: Looked rejuvenated and proved why he is still a crucial player with two well-taken goals

8 Wickham: On the left again, but Stoke struggled to cope with his pace and energy

Subs

Johnson (Buckley, 60) – Injected some pace and energy at a time Sunderland were struggling slightly

Rodwell (for Larsson 71)

Not used: Pantilimon, Brown, Bridcutt, Altidore, Mavrias.

STOKE CITY (4-2-3-1): Begovic 5; Bardsley 5, Shawcross 5, Wilson 4, Muniesa 3; Nzonzi 6, Whelan 4 (Bojan, 70); Arnautovic 5, ADAM 6, Moses 5 (Assaidi, 18); Crouch 5 (Walters, 78). (Not used): Sorensen, Pieters, Huth, Ireland.

Man of the match – STEVEN Fletcher – Produced a superb all-round display that was topped off with two goals on his return to the starting line-up