18 crosses, seven key passes: The Sunderland man who stood out in Saturday’s thrashing of Cambridge

Sunderland picked up a big win in their pursuit of a League One play-off place on Saturday afternoon, as they threashed Cambridge United 5-1 at the Stadium of Light.

Things started well for the Black Cats when Ross Stewart drew a foul from Lloyd Jones inside the Cambridge area, allowing the striker to open the scoring from the penalty spot after the U’s defender was shown the red card.

Elliot Embleton then doubled Sunderland’s lead with a free kick, before Paul Digby quickly pulled one back for the visitors.

However, Ross Stewart would restore Sunderland’s two goal advantage with ten minutes to go until half time, before second half strikes from Nathan Broadhead and Danny Batth sealed an emphatic three points for the hosts.

One player who certainly impressed for Alex Neil’s side on Saturday was Lynden Gooch, who offered a constant threat on the right wins for the hosts.

But just good was Gooch’s actual performance for Sunderland in that win over Cambridge?

Here, we’ve taken a look at the winger’s stats from that victory, according to SofaScore, in order to find out.

Although Gooch didn’t actually get on the scoresheet for Sunderland, that was just about the only way he wasn’t involved in the game on Saturday.

The winger’s most telling contribution came with his assist for Sunderland’s fourth goal of the afternoon, when his pinpoint cross was headed in at close range by Nathan Broadhead.

It is little surprise that Gooch’s assist came in that way, with the American playing 18 crosses – only two fewer than every other player on the pitch combined – seven of which were successful.

That is not the only way in which the 26-year-old was able to give Cambridge’s defence plenty to do, as he completed seven key passes, three more