After a 2 – 0 first-leg defeat at Lincoln, Lee Johnson’s Sunderland had it all to do to overcome their opponents at the Stadium of Light. This game was the first that allowed fans back into our home ground and, despite there only being just under ten thousand in attendance, the noise these fans created was audible to all watching on a screen, longing to be part of the action.
This build-up of emotion was surely a likely source for the fast start that Johnson’s men brought to this game, as they had
it all to do after the first leg. In fairness to the team, they played quite well at Lincoln without taking their chances, whilst a Lee Burge error cost us the second goal that made this tie all the more difficult.
The fast start saw the team take a 1 – 0 lead in this game after 13 minutes when Aiden McGeady skinned Regan Poole, Lincoln’s right-back, before supplying the onrushing Ross Stewart with a fabulous low cross.
This goal caused pandemonium within a stadium that was only a fifth full. The sheer release of joy, relief and pent-up adrenaline was a sight to behold.
Sunderland were playing really well in this game with Johnson getting his wish of the fans being the twelfth man. In actual fact, the high Sunderland press was wreaking havoc on Lincoln’s vulnerable defence and it should have been 2 – 0 had top goalscorer Charlie Wyke not procrastinated over finishing a glorious opportunity.
“Having done the hard work and rounded goalkeeper Alex Palmer, Sunderland’s leading scorer found himself confronting a gaping net about four yards out. But Wyke hesitated, buying the visitors time to scramble the ball off the line.”
Thankfully for Wyke, he actually scored a second minutes later to level the tie, volleying home another cross from the fantastic McGeady, who was having an enormous influence on the game.
Lincoln were shell-shocked and the crowd had really played their part. The one frustration it is certain that Johnson would have had was the failure of the team to ‘hammer the Imps’ before half-time, where Lincoln looked suitably relieved to see McGeady direct a dipping 25-yard free-kick fractionally – tantalisingly – off target just before the break.
The interval gave Lincoln a chance to breathe whilst also diluting the momentum that the home side had built up in the first half. Reports afterwards spoke about Lincoln manager Michael Appleton giving them “an old-school dressing down”, and it seemed to reap rewards as the whole direction of the game changed in the second half, leaving Sunderland chasing shadows at times as the away side opened up and played with more freedom.
Chances for the away side began to flow as Poole headed Jorge Grant’s corner against the crossbar. Within minutes Tom Hopper was left unmarked at another Grant corner and scored the decisive header.
Sunderland had no response and, were it not for Grant’s penalty being saved by Burge after Josh Scowen tripped Conor McGrandles, the home side may have been out of the contest completely.
Despite Lincoln’s dominance, there was still one more chance for us, with McGeady striking the post and Wyke extremely weak with the follow-up.
Of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention Max Power’s best Carlos Edwards impression, with the midfielder trying to do something that he wasn’t regularly doing at that stage of his Sunderland career at all – a long-range effort that went miles over.
After the game, Johnson consistently repeated the word “devastated” to express his feelings about the result and, despite the disappointment, there were some positives as fans did return to the Stadium of Light to at least witness a team who fought for the badge.
