Sunderland vs Brentford. Sky Bet Championship.
Stadium of LightAttendance27,702.
Saturday 17 February 2018 19:26, UK
Sunderland passed up the chance to boost their Sky Bet Championship survival hopes as Brentford won 2-0 on their first ever visit to the Stadium of Light.
Brentford capitalised on Sunderland's woeful start by following up Kamo Mokotjo's 14th-minute opener with a second goal in the 28th minute through striker Neal Maupay.
The latest defeat for Sunderland - who have won just two of their last 26 matches on Wearside - left Chris Coleman's side three points adrift of safety, having played a game more than fourth-bottom Hull.
The visitors were on the front foot from the first whistle, forcing four corners in as many minutes in the hope of increasing the tension among the home fans. It worked.
Ollie Watkins and Henrik Dalsgaard had already been denied by goalkeeper Lee Camp, the second a fantastic chance that was directed straight at him, before the opener arrived.
Maupay held the ball up, spotted Mokotjo lurking in space and the midfielder's low driven first-time shot from 20 yards rolled inside Camp's bottom-left corner.
Republic of Ireland international McGeady had an effort held by Daniel Bentley, but Sunderland disappointed across the pitch.
Maupay was the scorer of the second when he cleverly flicked a Watkins low delivery from the right inside Camp's near post. Brentford found far too much space in the Sunderland half throughout.
The hosts did have a couple of moments before the break. George Honeyman hit the crossbar on the stroke of half-time and Joel Asoro was thwarted by Bentley earlier on.
Sunderland introduced Jonny Williams and Adam Matthews after the break and, within a few minutes, they almost pulled one back. Asoro's run and pass ended with McGeady directing an effort wide from eight yards.
That was about as close as the home team went, despite a few further half-chances. Brentford had a few more attempts to extend their lead too, with Romaine Sawyers seeing a shot deflect just wide.
Brentford never really looked like losing their advantage, and Sunderland's misery continued.
Chris Coleman: "I should have expected it really I suppose. More grief, frustration and suffering, it's there really from the last four games, we were nervous, there was panic and a lack of cohesion.
"We were two down at half-time and that's what we deserved. It's alarming because of the situation we're in, but again the opposition didn't have to work hard to score the goals.
"I'll be ready for Tuesday and I look forward to it - (it's the) biggest game of the season. I need to make sure that I take a group of players who are ready for it also.
"If you're winning on the pitch you can cover a multitude of sins. It's a huge challenge, we've shown that when we really want to we can, we don't want to enough times. We've got three days until the game of the season and we have to get ready for that."
Dean Smith: "First half we came out of the blocks very well and we played as well as we have for a while. In the second half we weren't as great but you go anywhere on the road, score two goals and keep a clean sheet (and) you're happy.
"We knew they would change something at half-time but we went in front with a well-worked goal. The only disquiet from me at half-time was that we were only two goals up and the scoreline wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked.
"We came out of the traps very well, we spoke about starting on the front foot and we came and did that. They had a great comeback last week and we wanted to dampen that as quickly as we could."
