How did the players fare in Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Burton?


SUNDERLAND (3-5-1-1):

3 Matthews: Committed an absolute howler as he failed to hold on to Powell’s weak shot, enabling Vernam to score

5 McLaughlin: Always looked fairly solid in defence and tested O’Hara with a decent effort at the start of the first half

6 Wright: Marshalled Sunderland’s defence effectively throughout and kept the physical Akins under wraps

5 Flanagan: Didn’t give much away defensively, but was taken off with 20 minutes left as Sunderland chased the game

4 O’Nien: Got himself into some decent positions down the right-hand side, but let himself down with some poor balls into the box

5 Scowen: Saw plenty of the ball, but didn’t always use it effectively and should have done better with a close-range chance

5 Leadbitter: Stopped Burton’s midfielders from breaking forward, but wasn’t able to offer anything in an attacking sense

6 POWER: Spared Sunderland’s blushes with a powerful header and never stopped trying to drive his team forwards

5 Hume: Another player whose final delivery into the penalty area didn’t live up to the quality of some his work to that point

4 Embleton: Finally got his chance to impress from the start, but fell flat as he was unable to unpick the Burton defence

4 Wyke: Wasn’t able to make an impact before an injury forced him to hobble off midway through the first half


Subs:

4 Graham (for Wyke, 25): Wasn’t able to get beyond the Burton defence and failed to convert a couple of decent late chances

4 Maguire (for Embleton, 70): Was introduced in an attempt to add an attacking spark, but wasn’t able to make a difference

5 Grigg (for Flanagan, 70): Thumped a decent second-half header against the post, but wasted another good opening shortly after

Sanderson (for O’Nien, 90)

(not used): Burge (gk), McFadzean, Dobson.


BURTON (4-5-1):

O’Hara 7; Bostwick 7, Hughes 7, BRAYFORD 8, Daniel 6; Vernam 7 (O’Toole 90), Gilligan 5, Powell 6 (Gallacher 82), Quinn 6 (Fox 88), Edwards 6; Akins 5.

Subs (not used): Wallace, Lawless, Ennis, Garratt.


Man Of The Match: JOHN BRAYFORD – The veteran Burton defender handled both Charlie Wyke and Danny Graham and made life extremely difficult for Sunderland’s attackers.