Matchday Musings: Turf war at Turf Moor sees Wilson shoot two blanks
Yesterday at 01:43 AM
"Ultimately, we deserved to win and Burnley will undoubtedly feel as though they've got away with one."
I hate football, man.
The last week has paid lip service to the conception that there is seldomly just an "average" week on Wearside. Since Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman made their intentions abundantly clear via the statement signing of Enzo Le Fee, attentions have turned to what major transfer coup we can pull off next. Murmurings around the potential acquisition of Tom Cannon quickly turned into concrete links, with the Leicester City forward touted for a £13 million move to the North East.
Understandably, excitement has ramped up a notch as an automatic promotion charge appears to be the driving force behind this month's recruitment strategy. Signing with immediate results being the primary motivation, Regis Le Bris and his side would have been under no illusions that the demand for imminent results could only begin on the pitch heading into Friday night's crunch clash with Burnley.
Our record at Turf Moor is one that makes for unpleasant reading, having not registered a league win there since 2005. The Clarets, under manager Scott Parker, have been the Championship's resident defensive kingpins, conceding a remarkable nine goals all season, with less than half of those coming at home.
As one of the division's top scoring sides, Friday night under the lights had all the prospective hallmarks of a captivating affair. Having lost just one of our last eight in the league and buoyed by the shrewd addition of Le Fee, we were in an encouraging position and one that served as an ideal platform to launch an assault in Lancashire.
With Aji Alese expected to miss the rest of the campaign due to an ACL issue, the returns of Romaine Mundle, Dan Ballard, and Salis Abdul Samed came as a welcome relief when team news filtered through to our social media feeds. Perhaps more pertinently, it was confirmed that Le Fee would be making his Sunderland debut, replacing Eliezer Mayenda in the starting XI.
The opening exchanges were cagey, Burnley were the better of the two sides, and were punishing us down the right flank as Jaidon Anthony got the better of Dennis Cirkin. Despite several early corners, and a dangerous ball dealt with expertly by Chris Mepham, our hosts were unable to capitalise on their initial pressure. We weren't quite at the races, and at times, almost looked a little overawed by the magnitude of such a fixture. Granted, this was no cup final, but there was a clear acknowledgment in the way we set-up and started that there was more riding on this than just the three points. After a shaky first 20 minutes, we soon began to come into our own. Wilson Isidor was put through with a cleverly worked ball over the top, only for Esteve to make a brilliant last ditch challenge.
Le Fee's class came to the fore almost imminently, not least because he was exhibiting some very tidy play while out of position on the left, intricately linking up with a forever-overlapping Cirkin. When the half-time whistle blew, there was little to report, Burnley had marginally been the better side, but Sunderland's end to the half was positive.
We continued where we left off in the second-half: on the front foot. Le Fee, once again, demonstrating emphatically why he came with such a formidable reputation, delicately dinking it past Connor Roberts on two occasions, with one of those resulting in the through ball of the evening to Isidor who slammed it against the post. We were now establishing ourselves as the games predominant force, pegging Burnley back and looking dangerous on every counter.
Jobe and Dan Neil were doing brilliantly in nullifying Brownhill and Cullen in midfield, creating space for the likes of Isidor, Le Fee and Roberts. Unfortunately, we were awfully narrow, with Le Fee's natural inclination to play centrally and Roberts' propensity to cut in on his left. Typically, much of our joy was coming from when we did take on the Burnley fullbacks on the outside, stretching their compact backline. If anyone was going to score, it was going to be us. For once, we actually looked a threat from set-pieces, mostly thanks to Le Fee's pinpoint delivery.
The turning point was the introduction of Eliezer Mayenda, whose 15-minute cameo was mightily impressive. Wreaking havoc down the right with his directness and burst of pace, the forward pulled away from his man before playing in Isidor who was bundled over. Penalty. On closer inspection, the decision to award it was somewhat fortuitous, with the foul clearly committed outside the box. After some shithousing from James Trafford, who had inexplicably taken his gloves off in between the awarding of the penalty and it being taken, Isidor stepped up only to be denied by a strong hand from Trafford. Moments later, Mayenda came within inches of breaking the deadlock had it not been for a goal-saving block from CJ Egan-Riley.
When it seemed as though the game was fizzling out, on the 96th minute, Cirkin was brought down inside the box and Isidor was gifted a chance at redemption. Cue the most Sunderland-y chain of events ever, as Isidor missed his second penalty of the evening.
Frustratingly, this was a game that most would have taken a draw from had it been offered prior. Unfortunately, we come away from the North West with an overwhelming sense of the "one that got away".
Naturally, questions have to be raised over why Isidor was allowed to take the second penalty, but aside from the two misses, it's hard to fault the side who completely outclassed one of the league's very best teams away from home. Ultimately, we deserved to win and Burnley will undoubtedly feel as though they've got away with one. As Le Bris stated in his post-match interview, this was very much a learning experience for our young squad who can hopefully turn up at Pride Park on Tuesday galvanised by a superb performance.
