Sunderland moved into the top six as they produced one of the high-scoring football scores of the weekend in the Championship. The visitors’ fourth victory in six games came thanks to goals from Ross Stewart, Patrick Roberts, and Amad Diallo in the second half. Will Keane had canceled out Ellis Simms’ early goal for the Latics, who dropped to the bottom of the standings after a third straight loss. James McClean, a former player for Sunderland, was involved in the action right away and was the first player to be flagged by referee Michael Salisbury for clattering Edouard Michut.
Wigan center-back Charlie Hughes – who only made his first league start at Middlesbrough on Boxing Day – was forced off within 15 minutes through injury. That meant a reshuffle, with Ryan Nyambe – a right-back by trade – taking over alongside Curtis Tilt. Only a miraculous save from Jamie Jones prevented Sunderland from taking the lead in the 19th minute when, after saving a Diallo effort with his legs, the Wigan goalkeeper somehow got back to claw Abdoullah Ba’s strike from on the line. However, his efforts were in vain as seconds later Sunderland scored anyway when Trai Hume crossed for the unmarked Simms to nod home from a yard.
When Max Power’s corner was cleared to the edge of the box and McClean’s volley touched the angle of the post and the bar and went away to safety, Wigan came dangerously close to leveling the score. Simms’ goal was not likely to be the only one of the game, as Wigan duly equalized the score three minutes before halftime. Anthony Patterson parried Thelo Aasgaard’s 20-yard shot, and Keane scored from eight yards away. Five minutes from the end, Roberts scored Sunderland’s third goal to end the game. The shot took a significant deflection before going past Jones. Four minutes later, Diallo added a brilliant 20-yard strike to make it 4-1.
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