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Marlon Pack was sent off as
Pompey’s poor away form continued with a narrow defeat at Sunderland. Wilson Isidor struck the only goal of the game in the opening stages on a cold and wet afternoon on Wearside. And the Blues did well to limit the damage after Pack – making his 100th Blues appearance – was dismissed midway through the second half for a foul on the striker. They did still threaten an equaliser with a late rally, though, as the nervy Black Cats were grateful to hear the final whistle. John Mousinho stuck with the same side that eased to victory over Swansea on home soil on New Year’s Day. It meant that recent loan signing Rob Atkinson had to be content with a place among the substitutes. The visitors received an early warning after losing possession and seeing Patrick Roberts fire over the bar. But they did not heed it and fell behind on 17 minutes when Sunderland stole the ball from a throw high up the pitch. They surged quickly up the pitch and Eliezer Mayenda slipped a pass through for Isidor to coolly slot home. Pompey responded well to that setback, though, and started to cause problems of their own, without being able to test Anthony Patterson. Josh Murphy sent a shot over after cutting along the edge of the box, while Callum Lang saw his cleanly struck effort blocked. But Sunderland were still posing a threat themselves and a well stationed Ryley Towler kept out a Roberts attempt that might have been sneaking inside the post. Adil Aouchiche was then denied by a diving Nicolas Schmid as the hosts looked to strengthen their advantage. Murphy did well to collect Colby Bishop’s flicked header at the other end and burst forward, only to fire over after entering the area. The Black Cats thought they had gone further ahead on 42 minutes when Isidor found the net again, but he had strayed offside when latching onto Dan Neil’s pass. Mayenda did manage to beat the flag moments later, although he could only fire a shot into the side netting. Half Time: Sunderland 1 Pompey 0 The visitors were handed an excellent opportunity shortly after the restart, when Patterson kicked the ball straight to Bishop. He then laid it off for Lang, but when the cross came back into the box, Pompey’s number nine could only nod wide. Sunderland then started to pick up the pace themselves and put their opponents under some pressure. A shot from Roberts took a deflection and was headed on target, but Schmid got down well to make the save. And Pompey’s task was made even harder when Pack tugged back Isidor as he looked to break clear and was shown a red card by referee Thomas Bramall. Mousinho responded with a double switch, as Zak Swanson and Paddy Lane made way for Terry Devlin and debutant Atkinson. The loanee was immediately called into action, making a goal-saving block after Mayenda had met Trai Hume’s cut-back. And Schmid soon had to be alert when a corner from Roberts swung towards the target on 77 minutes. But the Blues held firm during the closing stages to not concede the second goal that would have sent them into the bottom three. They might even have grabbed an unlikely late leveller, but Bishop’s header would not quite land for Christian Saydee, while fellow substitute Owen Moxon’s long-range shot found the gloves of Patterson. |
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