Sunderland claim shoot-out win over Stoke

In front of the lowest crowd for a competitive match staged at the Stadium of Light, Robbin Ruiter’s two penalty saves helped Sunderland claim a spot-kick win after the game finished goalless.

All four of Sunderland’s penalty takers found the back of the net, earning Jack Ross’ side two points courtesy of the Checkatrade Trophy’s convoluted scoring system. There is a lot that is wrong with the competition in its current format, but if Sunderland make it to the final, you won’t find too many supporters complaining.

A route to Wembley, or an unwanted addition to an already crowded calendar? At the moment, the Checkatrade Trophy is both, but having found themselves in the competition as a fully-fledged entrant rather than an academy afterthought for the first time in three decades, Sunderland have rightly decided they might as well take the Football League’s least-heralded trophy seriously. If you have to check in to the Checkatrade, there’s no point voluntarily checking out.

So while Jack Ross made eight changes to his starting line-up, he was still able to use last night’s game to reintroduce Tom Flanagan and Ethan Robson to the fold after injury, and hand first Sunderland starts to Dylan McGeouch and Charlie Wyke. Not, however, that he was able to witness much excitement as a result.

McGeouch, who wore the captain’s armband, was neat and composed at the heart of midfield, if a little one-paced when attempting to track the runs of Stoke’s young midfielders. Wyke retained possession reasonably well with his back to goal, but understandably lacked sharpness when asked to break into the box. Having missed most of the first month of the season, the summer signing from Bradford will have benefited from last night’s blow-out.

Aside from an exercise in honing match fitness, however, it was hard to say too much else that was positive about the occasion. With just one tier of the West Stand open, there was an eerily subdued feel to proceedings, akin to a reserves game or pre-season friendly. As a result, it was perhaps understandable that there was also a marked lack of intensity on the pitch.

Chris Maguire sent a fourth-minute free-kick sailing over the crossbar, but it was four minutes before half-time before Sunderland finally forced Wolves goalkeeper Daniel Gyollai into a save.

Reece James rolled the ball to Josh Maja close to the edge of the area, and the Sunderland striker turned neatly before drilling in a strike that Gyollai did well to tip over the crossbar.

Stoke named Scotland international Charlie Adam in their starting side – a 32-year-old outlier in an Under-21s line-up – but the majority of the visitors’ team was made up of academy products making their way in the game.

There was plenty of youthful energy on display, and in 18-year-old Tyrese Campbell and 19-year-old Tre Pemberton, the Potters boasted a couple of pacy attackers who asked questions of the Black Cats defence.

Flanagan and Alim Ozturk stood up to the examination, although Denver Hume will have had easier nights after he was asked to fill in at right-back despite being much more at home on the opposite side of the back four. To his credit, the 22-year-old won his defensive battle and also showed up well on the front foot.

He dribbled past three Stoke defenders as he danced into the penalty area to force a corner shortly before the hour mark, and forced Gyollai into his second save of the night a couple of minutes later as he cut inside to fire in a 25-yard daisy-cutter that the Stoke goalkeeper turned around the post.

That was a rare moment of threat though. Sunderland passed the ball around reasonably neatly in midfield, but the vast majority of their attacks tended to break down long before either Wyke or Maja was able to receive possession in the box.

Ross cut a far from satisfied figure as he watched the first 20 minutes of the second half unfold from the deserted top tier of the stand, and tried to shake things up by introducing the fit-again Jerome Sinclair for Maja.

Nine minutes later, and teenager Benjamin Kimpioka was also on for Wyke, and the youngster somehow contrived to miss the best chance of the night with 12 minutes left. The goal was at his mercy as he met Hume’s cross in the six-yard box, but his side-footed shot ballooned over the crossbar.

The woodwork had been rattling a minute or so earlier, with Maguire curling a free-kick from the corner of the area against the bar, but while Sunderland spent most of the closing stages camped in the Stoke half, the visitors’ resistance rarely looked like cracking.