Sunderland 0-2 Ipswich: Further misery for Black Cats

Ipswich kept alive their faint hopes of securing a Sky Bet Championship play-off place as they piled further misery on relegation-threatened Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Joe Garner’s first-half strike preceded an own goal from Adam Matthews on the stroke of half-time, with Ipswich’s 2-0 win ensuring Mick McCarthy made an enjoyable return to Wearside.

However, for Sunderland boss Chris Coleman, there was yet more disappointment as his side remained rooted in the Championship’s bottom three, just one point off the foot of the table.
Coleman named all three of his deadline-day signings in Sunderland’s starting line-up, but any hopes of a radical change of fortunes were dispelled in the opening 45 minutes.

Just as had been the case at Birmingham on Tuesday, the Black Cats found themselves two goals behind at the interval.

Ipswich went into the game having won just one of their previous eight matches in all competitions, but McCarthy’s side were unfortunate not to take the lead as early as the 20th minute as former Sunderland forward Martyn Waghorn curled a free-kick against the crossbar.

The visitors were ahead 15 minutes later, though, with Joe Garner taking advantage of some hesitant Sunderland defending to make a breakthrough.

Receiving the ball with his back to goal, Garner spun around a static Billy Jones before curling a simple side-footed finish into the bottom right-hand corner.

Sunderland’s defending has been desperate all season, and the Black Cats were found wanting again as their opponents doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time.

Callum Connolly’s deft pass sent Grant Ward scampering on the outside of Lee Cattermole, and while Freddie Sears was unable to make any contact with the midfielder’s cross on the edge of the six-yard box, he blocked the view of Adam Matthews and the ball bounced off him and rebounded into the net.

Sunderland’s best first-half chance came to nothing when an unmarked John O’Shea headed Bryan Oviedo’s corner wide of the upright, and while there were flashes of excitement from Liverpool loanee Ovie Ejaria, the hosts’ recent signings did not make the desired impact.

Things might have been different had the Black Cats been awarded a penalty shortly after the hour mark, but when substitute George Honeyman’s right-wing cross appeared to strike Ipswich defender Jonas Knudsen on the arm, referee Darren England waved play on.

The visitors were content to sit back in the second half, and Bartosz Bialkowski came to their rescue in the 71st minute when he got down well to parry Kazenga LuaLua’s fierce strike.

However, Sunderland’s defence remained extremely shaky, and Waghorn passed up a great chance to claim a third Ipswich goal with 13 minutes left.

The striker found himself one-on-one with Lee Camp as he raced on to Connolly’s through ball, but he poked his shot wide of the right-hand post.

The managers
Chris Coleman: „It was the second game running where we conceded a minute before half-time, but it is what it is and we are where we are. When we go a goal behind, we just don’t come back. That’s a worry because we’re not always going to go 1-0 up. There’s only us can change that.

„I didn’t have a complaint in the first half an hour, but we didn’t recover from the all-important first goal. It’s the second goal, seconds before half-time, incredible. For us to concede like that knocks the life out of you. In the second half, we tried but we looked naive in certain situations.“

Mick McCarthy: „I have no sympathy for anybody, regardless of who I or my teams play against, and I’ve always been the same.

„We all want to win for our team. I am sad to see the plight this club is in and I know how hard it is to turn around. I had it myself when I was here. It’s like trying to turn round an oil tanker with a canoe paddle in your hand.“
Euro Soccer Bonus

Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.

This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.

The maximum bonus that you can receive is €100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.

If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:

Bet Type Bonus

14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus €100,000 or currency equivalent. Euro Soccer Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.

If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.

If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.

Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.

In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.

All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.

bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.