Sunderland vs Burnley. Sky Bet Championship.
Stadium of LightAttendance37,349.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Sunderland and Burnley at the Stadium of Light as the Clarets came from two goals down to secure an impressive win on Saturday.
Saturday 22 October 2022 19:18, UK
Burnley staged an incredible second-half comeback with three goals inside 19 minutes to beat Sunderland 4-2 at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats had made an impressive start to the game by securing a 2-0 lead courtesy of quickfire goals from Amad Diallo and Dan Neil inside the opening 20 minutes.
But with Sunderland hoping for only their second win in seven games, Burnley showed their promotion credentials by turning things around after the restart.
Nathan Tella, on loan from Southampton, pulled one back in the 50th minute before Vincent Kompany's Belgian compatriots Manuel Benson and Anass Zaroury put the visitors on course for maximum points with goals in the 61st and 69th minutes.
There was still time with three minutes left for captain Josh Brownhill to put the seal on another win for Burnley, who remain third, while Sunderland sit 13th.
Diallo's opening goal arrived just after quarter of an hour in. The on-loan Manchester United winger, who scored three times during a loan at Rangers last season, was left in loads of space in the penalty area to cleverly side-foot beyond Arijanet Muric from 14 yards.
That chance materialised from Sunderland's energy in the final third, with Alex Pritchard's initial run from the left creating the opportunity for Jack Clarke to take control and pick out 20-year-old Diallo with the pass.
Sunderland sensed there was a chance to soon add to that goal too.
This time Elliot Embleton delivered a cross to the back post after he had been rolled in down the right flank. Burnley defender Connor Roberts was unable to head clear of danger and when the ball dropped invitingly for Neil he was on hand to fire low and inside Muric's near post.
Burnley finished the half pushing on in a bid to get a goal back before half-time, but Sunderland's defensive line stood firm.
Nevertheless, Kompany still got the reaction he wanted from his players after half-time and within four minutes of the restart, Burnley had pulled one back.
There was still plenty for the visitors to do when a corner was floated to the back post. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, though, was left in space to head into the six-yard box for Tella to beat his man and head inside the bottom corner.
There were a couple of chances at both ends but Burnley sensed more.
And when substitute Benson, introduced on the right, cut inside and clipped into the area, the ball evaded everyone and bounced inside the far corner of the net to level things up just after the hour.
With 21 minutes remaining Zaroury made it 3-2 when he cut inside from the left before curling brilliantly inside the far corner, with Anthony Patterson soundly beaten.
The Burnley comeback was complete and skipper Brownhill made sure late on by finishing coolly after Neil had been robbed in his own half.
Sunderland's Tony Mowbray: "The first half was about intensity from us to stop a good team playing. We decided not to be the team to play a 5-4-1 against them and let them have 70 per cent possession. We played on the front foot and got the rewards first half. Second half it was hard to maintain that intensity level. They got a goal at 2-0 down and they got a huge drive, an injection of emotion.
"We were in protect mode rather than being aggressive and play a high level ourselves. Yet it happens in real time, in front of you, and it is hard to stop. You have to accept they have real quality. The game ran away from us. There are a lot of positives first half but we are disappointed second half. We have to regroup and go again next week. We should have tried to keep doing what we were doing first half. Burnley are probably going to be the best team we will play, and I thought we disrupted them but we didn't keep that going."
Burnley's Vincent Kompany: "Every lesson we need to have about football was in this game. I hated everything about the first half, how we turned up, the intensity, the challenges, and football starts with intensity, challenges and running. You can have a bad day, but the basics weren't here. Second half is everything I love about the game. When your basics go I don't think you need to mess about at half-time. I can move as many magnets on the tactics board as I like but it's pointless if you're not doing the basics right.
"We have not encountered this situation this season. They have set the standards high in terms of energy but this was the first time this season we showed this. Sunderland were really good first half but it has to be more of a fight, it has to be more contested. We learned about each other. The second half was too good a performance to say we got away with it. We weren't at it first half. The lesson is you don't give up, and if you drop your standards you are bang average."
