Sunderland 2 Blackburn 1: Highlights after Ellis Simms goal gives hosts win following Ross Stewart penalty
and live on Freeview channel 276
Despite a bright start, Tony Mowbray’s side fell a goal behind in the 18th minute when Ross Stewart scored an unfortunate own goal.
The striker responded immediately though, winning a penalty before converting from the spot four minutes later.
Substitute Ellis Simms then converted the winning goal in stoppage-time following a free-kick.
Here’s how the game played out:
RECAP: Sunderland 2 (Stewart, 22) (Simms, 90+1) Blackburn 1 (Stewart, own goal, 18)
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Patterson, Gooch (Wright, 79), Ballard, O’Nien, Cirkin (Hume, 52), Evans, Neil, Roberts (Simms, 80) , Amad, Clarke, Stewart
- Subs: Bass, Wright, Hume, Ba, Michut, Matete, Simms
- Blackburn XI: Kaminski, Rankin-Costello, Ayala, Hyam, Pickering; Morton, Buckley, Hedges, Gallagher (Hurst, 76) , Dack (Travis, 76), Brereton-Diaz
- Subs: Pears, S.Wharton, Phillips, Travis, Garrett, Markanday, Hirst
It’s Matchday!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Boxing Day meeting with Blackburn Rovers.
We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are ready for a busy festive football schedule.
The Black Cats have three matches in the next seven days, with trips to Wigan and Blackpool just around the corner.
We’ll have all the build-up ahead of today’s match as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.
Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.
Team news
We’ll start with the Sunderland team news.
In terms of team news, Elliot Embleton is set to be sidelined for an extended period after being stretchered off against Hull on Saturday.
The midfielder suffered an ankle fracture and significant ligament damage which has required surgery, yet Sunderand are hopeful he will play again this season.
Danny Batth and Alex Pritchard will also miss today’s match after both were sidelined with calf issues.
Edouard Michut has been sidelined with a muscle issue and is building up his fitness again after he works his way back.
Mowbray on Blackburn
Here’s what Mowbray had to say about facing his former club today.
“They have had some amazing results. They went to Norwich, who were in the Premier League last year, and won 2-0.
“Yet they got beat 4-1 by Preston at home, they got beat 3-0 away at Burnley. They have had some heavy defeats.
“They lost quite heavily against Notts Forest in midweek after making changes.
“The game against us I know Brereton scored with his left foot from 20 yards in the top corner, they scored a second which seemed to be offside but wasn’t given.
“I think in what was a tight game we applied ourselves pretty well and wer hard done by in that game.
“This is another opportunity for us to try and get three points.
“Blackburn Rovers have some talented individuals and a lot of players I know well.
“We have to be respectful of what they’ve got and individual talent on the pitch can hurt any team, as they’ve shown.
“We have to be at our best, our fans will expect us to give everything we’ve got and that’s what will happen I’m sure.”
Blackburn are third in the table following a 2-0 win at Norwich last time out, but were beaten convincingly by local rivals Burnley and Preston either side of their World Cup break.
Rovers then made 11 changes for a 4-1 Carabao Cup defeat against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
To find out more about Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side we caught up with Rovers podcaster Ian Herbert on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast:
Here’s what he said when asked about the team’s key players
“Thomas Kaminski in goal has been an excellent signing. Blackburn have a really good tradition of having solid keepers. He’s been fundamental at the back.
“We signed Dom Hyam in the summer from Coventry and he’s slotted in almost seamlessly. When he’s alongside Daniel Ayala, that’s a solid partnership at the back.
“Up front you have Ben Brereton-Diaz and Sam Gallagher. We have this stat with Sam Gallagher that when he starts our results are fundamentally better.”
Dahl Tomasson on Sunderland fixture
Here’s what Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson had to say about today’s match:
“I’ve said it many times, I love this schedule around Christmas, it’s brilliant.
“It’s Christmas time, family time, football time and I like it, the fans like it as well. It’s one of those traditions you only have in England, which is great and I’m looking forward to that challenge.
“Going to Sunderland, a massive stadium, probably sold-out, the time isn’t ideal for our supporters, that’s the only thing with the early kick-off.
“We will be training at Ewood on the evening of the 25th and then travelling to Sunderland.
“Of course for our fans they need to travel very early, a little bit too early for my point of view, but I can’t change that.”
Predicted line-ups
Here are our predicted line-ups for today’s match:
Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Gooch, O’Nien, Ballard, Alese, Evans, Neil, Roberts, Amad, Clarke, Stewart
Predicted Blackburn XI: Kaminski, Rankin-Costello, Ayala, Hyam, Pickering; Morton, Buckley, Travis, Gallagher, Dack, Brereton-Diaz
What to make of those teams
So it’s four changes for Sunderland from the side which started at Hull last time out.
Daniel Ballard and Patrick Roberts replace the injured Danny Batth and Elliot Embleton, while Ross Stewart is handed his first start since August.
That means Ellis Simms has dropped to the bench, while Dennis Cirkin has come in for Aji Alese at left-back.
It looks like Amad will start in a No 10 position with Roberts on the right but that could change as the match goes on.
Edouard Michut is also back in the squad following his injury setback.
Blackburn have made one change from the side which won at Norwich in their last match, with Ryan Hedges replacing Lewis Travis who drops to the bench.