Watford vs Sunderland. Sky Bet Championship.
Vicarage RoadAttendance20,335.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Watford and Sunderland at Vicarage Road on Saturday; Goals from Festy Ebosele and Tom Dele-Bashiru deny Regis Le Bris' Black Cats the chance to go top of the table
Saturday 28 September 2024 18:22, UK
Sunderland missed the opportunity to take over at the top of the Sky Bet Championship, losing 2-1 at Watford.
Goals by Festy Ebosele and a Tom Dele-Bashiru penalty were enough to see off the visitors, for whom Wilson Isidor levelled.
The Hornets gave a home debut to Angelo Ogbonna, with Vakoun Bayo and Edo Kayembe coming in as well, while the visitors gave a full debut to Isidor.
After a spate of recent games where they conceded in less than five minutes, Watford were able to keep Sunderland at bay in the opening exchanges, although Isidor was wide in the eighth minute from Dennis Cirkin's cross.
Kayembe forced Anthony Patterson to turn away his curler at full stretch after 10 minutes, then two minutes later the goalkeeper kept a close range effort by Ebosele out.
Sunderland offered little in the first half hour, although Jobe Bellingham failed to properly control his header after a Trai Hume cross in the 27th minute.
Watford deservedly took the lead a minute later, when Ebosele connected first time to a delivery from Yasser Larouci, directing his shot past the stranded Patterson.
Sunderland almost hit back straight away, with Jonathan Bond tipping over a Luke O'Nien effort from a free-kick.
The goal conceded seemed to galvanise the away side, who came close when Isidor shot just wide.
The French forward marked his first Sunderland game with his first goal for the club, three minutes after the restart, when he turned in a Patrick Roberts cross at the near post past Bond.
Watford almost hit back immediately, when Larouci pounced on a misdirected header by his own team-mate in Bayo, but he fired his shot into the side-netting.
Sunderland were the more energetic of the two sides, clearly buoyed by their equaliser, and went in search of their second goal of the afternoon.
A fierce strike by Romaine Mundle had to be directed away from goal by Bond with 18 minutes remaining.
Watford had their part to play in the contest, however, in a game where an additional single goal was likely to settle the tie.
And it was the home side who got the game's decisive third breakthrough just six minutes of the game remaining, when Kwadwo Baah was upended in the area by O'Nien, allowing Dele-Bashiru to step up and convert from the spot.
Sunderland had four minutes of added time to rescue a point, and despite a succession of corners - and goalkeeper Patterson turning attacker for the set-pieces - they were unable to find another equaliser.
Watford's Tom Cleverley:
"He's been excellent for us this season, and that poses the question why he's not in the team every week.
"He just needs to be fitter, to repeat these sprints, but he's winning games for us right now.
"It was a little bit of tale of two halves, I thought we were excellent in the first half. Then we had to absorb a bit of pressure in the second half, without conceding too many big chances.
"Football is hard to swing momentum, when you go 1-0 and then concede, and then they get the momentum, then it's difficult to swing it back in our favour."
Sunderland's Regis Le Bris:
"Wilson did very well for the first game, he ran a lot and helped the team. It was difficult with one player against their back three. He tried, and it was a reward to score that goal.
"Our back four was not able to deal with their front line, so after 50 minutes we decided to change our shape, to create a back five.
"At that moment, the game changed. But Watford are a strong side, in counter attack. We knew if we lost the ball high up the pitch they could exploit us.
"At the end of the game, you are tired, and you need to be very accurate in your decisions. Watford kept their strength with their counter attack after their own substitutes.
"During half-time we talked about defending late on. They had a long ball from a goal kick and we lost the first duel."
