Sunderland inch closer to Portsmouth as Charlton boss makes play-off admission

Lee Johnson hailed his Sunderland troops as they continued their Championship charge with a comprehensive over Burton.
Charlie Wyke was on target again for Sunderland at Burton. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)Charlie Wyke was on target again for Sunderland at Burton. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)
Charlie Wyke was on target again for Sunderland at Burton. Picture: Daniel Chesterton/phcimages.com)

The Black Cats, who have recently been taken over by 23-year-old billionaire-heir Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, ran out 3-0 winners at the Pirelli Stadium.

Grant Leadbitter, Lyden Gooch and Charlie Wyke were on target as sixth-placed Sunderland are now just one point and one spot behind Pompey in the League One table.

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Johnson told the Sunderland Echo: ‘I was worried about this one, to be honest. They're in good form, we had to change the shape.

‘On the ball, it's a great shape and I thought we caused them problems throughout the first half with how footballing ability and interplay we had between the front players.

‘Lynden is a pocket dynamo and with Aiden O'Brien making those sort of out to in runs, Goochy was the perfect player for the role.

‘Both him and Luke O'Nien have been absolutely fantastic because we've had to use them in three or four positions.

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‘I'm very happy with those two but I'm very happy with everyone, it was a very professional performance.’

Meanwhile, Hull dropped out of the automatic promotion places in their bid for an immediate return to the Championship.

The Tigers drew 3-3 with Yorkshire and promotion rivals Doncaster.

Hull were 3-1 up at the break yet threw away their lead in the second half, with former Pompey striker Omar Bogle bagging for Rovers.

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And Grant McCann was left frustrated the home side failed to see out a win.

He told the club's website: ‘We should have been out of sight in the first half.

“We had two cleared off the line, we were the team in the ascendancy. We were creating chances at will every time we went forward.

‘Every time we had a set-play, I thought we were going to score. We didn’t take the opportunities.

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‘When you’re 2-0 up or 3-1 up, it gives the opposition an opportunity to reset or regroup at half-time.

‘Second half, we went away from the things we were doing in the first half. The press wasn’t right, we lacked a bit of intensity in our game.

‘It felt stop-start, every time we challenged there was a free-kick given to Doncaster.

‘Doncaster were good in the second half – I have to give them credit, they were good.

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‘We didn’t get our shape right and at times we pressed out of our shape. We didn’t get the press right.’

Peterborough are now up to second after beating AFC Wimbledon 3-0 at London Road.

Blues summer target Sammie Szmodics fired a double, while Jonson Clarke-Harris plundered his 18th league goal of the season.

However, Posh boss Darren Ferguson is refusing to get carried away.

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He said: 'It’s the second successive game in which we have won 3-0 in the second half and it’s great to see us scoring plenty of goals, as goal difference could turn out to be important.

‘It’s just a shame the third goal didn’t come a bit earlier so I could have made more changes, but it was still a good result with a clean sheet.

‘I’m not too bothered about anyone other than ourselves. We just need to concentrate on what we are doing.’

Lee Bowyer conceded it's going to be tough for Charlton to finish in the play-offs.

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The Addicks are ninth after being held to a 1-1 draw at Fleetwood Town.

Bowyer said: 'It’s starting to balance out a bit. We’re probably in and around where I expected us at the start of the season. It’s going to be tough.

'Everybody just expects because you’ve been relegated that you get straight back up. It’s not like that. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There are teams that have been building for the last two, three, four, five years to try and get out of this division.

'We’ve had a lot of things that have happened to us in the last year to 18 months and we’ve had to rebuild. The squad now, I think we can compete. The problem is that with teams’ headstarts, it makes it more difficult. I still believe that if we do the right things we’ll be in and around it.’

Other results

Gillingham 2-0 Bristol Rovers, Accrington 1-1 Shrewsbury, Ipswich 0-0 Oxford, MK Dons 4-3 Northampton, Rochdale 0-0 Plymouth, Swindon 2-1 Crewe, Wigan 1-2 Lincoln