Last time out Sunderland drew with Coventry and Bristol lost at Hull. The Black Cats kicked off their return to the Championship with a 1-1 draw in front of 40,000 fans. Jack Clarke gave Sunderland an early lead but the Sky Blues equalised in the 86th minute. Sunderland have one injury concern, Niall Huggins due to a heel injury. Leon Dajaku could be back in contention after a short illness. A disputed penalty and a last minute deflected winner denied Bristol City an opening day win against Hull City after Robins striker Andi Weimann had opened the scoring on the half-hour mark. Antoine Semenyo is recovering from injury and will not feature. Alex Neil: “I thought that we gave a good account of ourselves, I thought that we were organised, and we made it really difficult for them. Let’s be honest, we’d be talking about a great result here if it wasn’t for one moment of quality. “We switch off, don’t get down the line quick enough and let him turn, but even then it’s a great goal. It’s not as if we’ve made an error and they’ve had a tap in. The lad’s had to turn, dip past two players and bang the ball in the bottom corner. That’s the quality of the Championship.” “You don’t know how players are going to react," he added. "We’ve still got a lot of work to do in the window in terms of strengthening the squad, but I thought that we moved the ball really well and probably caught Coventry a bit cold in terms of how we started the game. All in all, for what our players offered, I was really pleased with our effort and how we went about it.” "Leon (Dajaku) was ill and he trained on the Thursday and the Saturday last week, so he had only done a couple of days and, unlike the rest of the lads, he hadn't done the 90 minutes prior [in a pre-season friendly] Nigel Pearson: “It was a game that we should win, to be honest with you. First half we played very, very well, defended exceptionally well as well at the end. I mean we’ve been mugged a bit today. The penalty that they had, if you look at it back, it’s a bit embarrassing for the officials.” “A deflected goal for the winner is a bit cruel for the players, but there are aspects of our game in the second half where we did not control possession well enough. It’s an unfortunate result and I’m a bit annoyed about it, the players are annoyed about it. In all honesty we should be going away with all 3 points.” "It's important that we get off to a winning start at home, that's what we are looking for. It would be nice to play well and win, but it is important that we win. It's another tough Championship game. There are no easy ones - for those that think that there are, there aren't.” Match Appointments: Referee: KEITH STROUD Assistant Referees: Graham Kane and George Byrne Fourth Official: Gavin Ward Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Gooch, Ballard, Batth, Cirkin, Neil, Evans, Pritchard, Roberts, Clarke, Stewart. Subs: Bass, Alese, Wright, Matete, O’Nien, Embleton, Simms Injured: Huggins Bristol City FC: (3-4-2-1) Bentley, Vyner, Naismith, Atkinson, Sykes, James, Williams, Dasilva, Scott, Weimann, Martin. Subs: O’Leary, Klose, Wilson, Tanner, Massengo, Conway, Wells. Injured: Semenyo, Pring. Betting Odds: Sunderland 19/10 Bristol 29/20 Draw 9/4 Prutton Predicts: 1-1 My two pence: A good performance last weekend against Coventry, hopefully we can push on and get our first win. Bristol were a bit unlucky in their game with Hull last week and will be going all out for a win. My guess is a 1-0 win for the lads. Live Stream: Supporters abroad can watch this one https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Ha’way the Lads ... ... we played some excellent stuff against Coventry and Bristol are no better imo. Good support going down and I hope they sing all the way home. Bloody expensive tickets though, £33, I wonder how many Bristol will come here if we charge the same.
Been waiting all week for this thread. It really is one of the highlights of my week. Thank you @RTB Like the look of your team with Clarke and Roberts in. Would like to see Embleton in as well, but maybe a bit too attack minded and we need Evans to screen the back 4. That front 4 should give them problems and has goals in it, 2 nil to the lads for me
Definitely think it’s a game we can win but I expect caution from Neil, first away game of the season and all that… Another 1-1 wouldn’t surprise at all.
Haway the Lads, if we play like we did in the first half against Coventry we should be OK. I'll go 0-1 to us but wouldn't be disappointed with another point.
A win here and into the top 6? Would be looking at another 40,000+ crowd the following week against QPR…
On paper we have a hard run of games coming up, Sheff Utd, Norwich, Boro. Its not a must win game at all but I would like a good 3 points on the board Cheers RTB.
Definitely fancy Ross Stewart to get off the mark for the season… I’ll have a bet on him first goalscorer.
Thanks again RTB for another top thread, we got so close to a winning start against Coventry, and a clean sheet could see us build on that with a win. OaU
I've been reading the Norwich board and it seems all is not well there. This might be an ideal time to catch them.
Thanks again, RTB. I think Bristol City will do alright this season. I'd be happy with a point to keep our unbeaten run going but if we are on song, I think we could nick it. 2-1 Pritchard and Roberts.
They'll be up for this, first home game and a good crowd, keep it tight first 20 then impose ourselves. We should have enough to bring home the bacon HTL.
It must be that time of the week again match day thread up and as good as ever thanks for that,I’m gona plump for a little 2-1 to the lads with Stewart and Ballard (from a corner) fingers crossed
RTB I wonder if A Neil is going to persist with D Neil (are they related?). I am one of those that reckon the lad has talent. He needs to demonstrate that for 90 mins. Gooch as WB, yep Gooch as RB hmm Also it will be interesting to see if we use 5 subs AN making a point if we do not. A narrow win please Stewart off the mark!
