It’s almost two years to the day since Sunderland secured a vital 1-2 win at Doncaster to ease the pressure on the then Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson, who was under huge pressure after a nine-game winless run. On this day in 2021, Sunderland came into this game in much better shape and put in a commanding performance to win 0-3.
Lee Johnson’s side had played some sublime football at times this season and this continued in this game, where players such as Elliot Embleton, Alex Pritchard and Leon
Dajaku starred. In particular, Pritchard was the creative force in this game and was involved in everything good.
From the very start, we dominated proceedings against a Doncaster team that lacked inspiration and creative spark, and there were only seven minutes on the clock when Ross Stewart scored from the penalty spot after Dajaku was taken down in the box.
Dominance continued for the rest of the first half, and just as frustration was growing, we finally got our second through Embleton, who poked in a second from close range after being set up by the instrumental Pritchard.
Just after half-time, an own goal by youngster Ben Blythe, who was making only his second league appearance, made it three after he diverted Alex Pritchard’s flick into his own net right in front of the raucous Sunderland away end.
This was an easy day at the office for Sunderland, but it was also a crucial result as table toppers Rotherham United had dropped points on Boxing Day making it essential that we took full advantage in this game. A win here put Sunderland into second position, and it looked like we were purring just as the season was getting a little more tense.
After the game, Johnson readily admitted that it was crucial to get the victory to close the gap on Rotherham, but also expressed his delight in the all-round performance.
We had to be professional today. We had to find some control, and obviously the early goal did us a right favour.
Then we left them off the hook a bi,t but the second goal was really good timing for us because it was getting a bit frustrating.
It’s a really big three points. We had to capitalise on closing the gap (to leaders Rotherham), and we did.
Three days later, we backed this performance up with a huge 5-0 win at home to fellow play-off rivals Sheffield Wednesday, which displayed the good in what we could do when we were on form under Johnson.
