Sunderland vs Aston Villa. Sky Bet Championship.
Stadium of LightAttendance26,081.
Tuesday 6 March 2018 22:54, UK
Aston Villa kept up the pressure on Wolves and Cardiff City in the Championship's automatic promotion places as they cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Sunderland.
Steve Bruce enjoyed a successful return to the Stadium of Light as goals from Lewis Grabban and James Chester and a Bryan Oviedo own goal kept Villa in third position.
Sunderland's defeat keeps them rooted to the foot of the table, four points adrift of safety, and means they now have just 10 matches to save their Championship status.
Villa went into the game having won six of their previous eight matches, and while they were not quite at their best for long periods of the game, they always had too much for Sunderland.
Scott Hogan threatened in the opening 15 minutes, narrowly failing to make a connection as he swivelled to try to convert Conor Hourihane's chipped through ball on the turn, and went close again on the half-hour mark as he glanced Robert Snodgrass' floated cross onto the roof of the net.
Sunderland's defence was beginning to creak at that stage, with Chris Coleman having been forced into a reshuffle after Tyias Browning was forced off with a first-half injury, and Villa broke the deadlock 11 minutes before the break.
Grabban scored 12 goals in a Sunderland shirt in the first half of the season, before informing the club that he wanted to trigger a clause in his loan deal and return to his permanent employers, Bournemouth.
He moved on again to join Villa on transfer deadline day, so there was a sense of inevitability about him breaking the deadlock on his return to Wearside.
It was a horrendous goal for Sunderland to concede from a defensive point of view, with Lamine Kone conceding possession cheaply to allow Albert Adomah to cross from the left. John O'Shea and Billy Jones both missed attempted headers, and with Jason Steele rooted to his goalline, Grabban was left with the simple task of nodding home at the back post.
Sunderland's first-half attacking was completely sterile, and on the one occasion they managed to get behind the Villa defence, Ashley Fletcher's poor control meant the ball ran out harmlessly for a goal-kick.
Jones finally forced Villa goalkeeper Sam Johnstone into his first save of the game on the stroke of half-time, but there was still time for Sunderland's defensive frailties to reappear again to ensure the visitors enjoyed a two-goal advantage at the break.
Snodgrass swung over a corner from the right-hand side, and Kone was beaten far too easily as Chester headed home his second goal of the season.
Johnstone tipped Callum McManaman's rising drive over the bar at the start of the second half, but Villa continued to dominate and added a third goal six minutes after the hour mark.
Hogan played Hourihane towards the byline, and the midfielder's shot crept between Steele and his near post via Oviedo.
Chris Coleman: "It's hard to take when you give away goals like that. They are a good team Aston Villa, they're not up there for nothing, and they'll be there or thereabouts. You don't have to give them goals, they can earn goals themselves. But we gave them goals. How many times have I had to watch us concede a second goal seconds before half-time? It's a bitter pill to swallow for us.
"Before the scored, there wasn't much in the game, but we gifted them goals and that's a common theme. The game is done and dusted then. It's a poor, poor night for us, and it's back to the start really. The teams around us keep losing, and that's the only light at the end of the tunnel. But we've been on such a poor run.In the last three games, I thought, 'Right, this is a good turning point for us'. But we've gone straight back to square one."
Steve Bruce: "Can we still win the league? I said before that it would take an almighty, calamitous crash for Wolves to blow up, but anything is possible in this league. We've given ourselves a chance and that's important for a club like ours. We've got Wolves, Cardiff and Derby at home, so it's all to play for.
"We've won nine out of 11 and people are still above us. Fulham and Cardiff are having a great run as well, but we're going well. We've got Wolves this weekend, and if we can turn them over, we'll have a great chance."
