Sunderland 2-0 Crewe match report as substitutes strike late to keep Black Cats in play-off hunt

Substitutes Dan Neil and Patrick Roberts scored late goals as Sunderland scraped an unconvincing victory against basement side Crewe Alexandra at the Stadium of Light. The Black Cats toiled for 85 minutes against a side that had lost nine of its last ten games, barely testing visiting goalkeeper Dave Richards.

But academy product Neil finally made the breakthrough, just when it seemed that Sunderland might drop two costly points in the race for a play-off place. Roberts then added a second goal in the final minute of normal time to give the scoreline a gloss that did not reflect the game.

For Sunderland, it completed back-to-back wins for the first time in 2022 and it meant they stay fifth in the table on a day when play-off rivals Wycombe, Ipswich, and Portsmouth, all dropped points. Boss Alex Neil made three changes to the side that started the midweek win against Fleetwood.

Luke O'Nien made his first start since recovering from shoulder surgery, while Lynden Gooch and Jermain Defoe also came into the side, with Arbenit Xhemajli, Elliot Embleton, and Roberts made way. Crewe boss David Artell also made three changes, in his case to the side that lost at home to Portsmouth on Tuesday night, with Callum Ainley, Rakeem Harper, and Zac Williams starting, and they replaced Chris Porter, Dan Agyei, and Luke Murphy.

The first half was a difficult watch, with Sunderland dominating possession but without finding a way through the Crewe defence. The sum total of their efforts in the first 45 minutes was one Ross Stewart header from a corner, which was straight at Richards who made a routine save on his line. Earlier there had been a half-chance for Defoe when Carl Winchester's ball over the visiting defence released the