Sunderland: Danny Batth was the real hero

Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland returned to Championship motion with a bang as they beat Millwall 3-0 on the Stadium of Mild on Saturday.

The Black Cats swept the Lions apart with relative ease of their first match again after the break for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and have moved as much as tenth within the table.

Amad Diallo opened the scoring with a easy end from shut vary after glorious work from Alex Pritchard down the left allowed Ellis Simms to flick the ball into the winger’s path.

Pritchard then doubled the lead as he brilliantly evaded a lot of challenges within the field earlier than rifling in an effort that was too scorching for the goalkeeper to deal with.

Simms rounded out the scoring in stoppage time as he raced onto a ball excessive and lifted the ball over the Millwall shot-stopper earlier than passing it into an empty internet.

While Pritchard was pulling the strings in midfield all afternoon and was closely concerned in two of the objectives, the actual hero for Mowbray on Saturday was central defender Danny Batth.

The previous Stoke Metropolis man was a colossus on the again for the Black Cats as he repelled assault after assault along with his chic defending alongside Luke O’Nien.

He was essential to Sunderland choosing up a clear sheet within the match and made important interventions within the first half to maintain the sport at 0-0, which supplied the attackers with a platform to go and win the sport within the second half.

Batth made a goal-saving clearance off the road within the first half after Anthony Patterson watched the ball go over his head and persistently gained his particular person duels and was in the appropriate place on the proper time to chop out assaults.

Was Batth the person of the match?

As per Sofascore, he gained 11 of his 14 battles (79%) and made ten clearances, one deal with, one interception, and 4 blocks throughout the 90 minutes, while not being dribbled previous a single time.

These statistics present that the 6 foot 3 titan was sensational for Sunderland as he dominated the opposition from a bodily perspective and put his physique on the road a number of instances to protect the clear sheet.

He was additionally composed and dependable on the ball as he accomplished 81% of his tried passes and solely misplaced possession 12 instances from 77 touches, which exhibits that he was not a legal responsibility on the opposite aspect of the sport.