Goals:
1-0: Lafferty (64, outmuscled his marker to head in Hume’s perfect delivery)
1-1: Mandron (74, poked a finish inside the far corner after Willis and Ozturk struggled with a corner)
2-1: Lafferty (83, slotted a lovely finish beyond Bonham after Dobson’s pass)
2-2: Mandron (90, controlled Lee’s lay-off before firing low and inside McLaughlin’s bottom corner)
Bookings: Graham (42, dissent); Ozturk (42, dissent); Roberts (43, foul); O’Keefe (44, dissent)
Referee: Antony Coggins (Bicester) – tried hard to keep his cards away but left with little choice as the game went on. 6
Attendance: 29,822
Entertainment: **
Shots on 6 6
Shots off 7 8
Corners 9 6
Fouls 9 14
Offsides 2 3
SUNDERLAND (3-4-2-1):
7 McLaughlin: Made his fair share of saves but could do very little about Mandron’s double that stopped the win;
5 Willis: Has been excellent this season but had his dodgy moments this time, including for the first equaliser
5 Ozturk: Missed the header for the first goal after doing well
7 Flanagan: Played some nice passes and was the pick of the defenders;
5 O’Nien: Not at the level he can be and had too many shaky moments
7 Dobson: Played a lovely through pass for Lafferty’s second
6 Power: Not influential in an attacking sense but still involved plenty
6 Hume: Delivered the ideal delivery for Lafferty’s first goal;
5 Gooch: Has faded in recent weeks and could do with finding his form again
6 Maguire: Always looked to get on the ball and caused a few problems
7 LAFFERTY: At the double to put Sunderland ahead twice
Subs
Semenyo (for Ozturk 81)
Scowen (for Hume 85)
Lynch (for Maguire 89)
(not used): Burge (gk), Watmore, Grigg, C McLaughlin.
GILLINGHAM (4-4-2): Bonham 7; Fuller 5, Ehmer 7, Tucker 6, Ogilvie 5; Graham 5 (Lee 58, 6), O’Keefe 6 (Akinde 72), Jones 6, Roberts 5 (O’Connor 61, 5); MANDRON 8, Hanlan 5. Subs: Walsh, Willock, Charles-Cook, Pringle.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Mikael Mandron – effectively prevented Sunderland from winning on his own.
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