Alex Neil names his standout performer from Sunderland’s 5-1 victory against Cambridge

Sunderland gave their fans something to cheer about in their final home game of the regular League One season yesterday as they beat Cambridge with a massive 5-1 victory.

Cambridge went down to ten men just 12 minutes into the game when Lloyd Jones was sent off for a foul on Ross Stewart which also led to Sunderland’s first goal from the penalty spot.

Stewart scored two goals whilst Elliot Embleton, Nathan Broadhead and Danny Batth scored the other three.

However, it was Lynden Gooch who caught Alex Neil’s eye yesterday who provided an assist to his side’s fourth goal.

Speaking about Gooch’s performance, Alex Neil told the Chronicle: “I was really pleased with him. I think that was the best that Goochy has played since I’ve been here.

“The instruction to him was really clear: get down the outside and put early balls in and his quality yesterday was really top-notch. The one thing I will say about Goochy is that he works his socks off every single day.

“You talk about people wearing their heart on their sleeve for this club, and he is right up there. I don’t think anyone internally at the club would have any doubts about Goochy.

“He’s a warrior and he’s desperate to do well here.”

Neil also admitted that it was the perfect type of game for a player like Gooch as he said: “It’s a good feeling when you’re supplying good quality, you’re playing well, and your team is on top.

“If you take the 90 minutes-plus, we attacked for probably 89 minutes of it so there wasn’t a lot of defensive work to be done so, for a forward player like Goochy, it was a dream.”

The Verdict:

Lynden Gooch has been brilliant this season and despite not scoring yesterday, his manager feels as though he stood out as the star player.

The 26-year-old will