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OFTEN, the more things change the more they stay the same.
Zach Clough still has a poacher’s instinct and Filipe Morais has an eye for a killer pass into the danger area.
And just such a combination – though exact details remain sketchy – gave Wanderers a vital goal in their battle to avoid the drop into League One.
Hosting Sunderland, a team with their own relegation fears, the Whites banished all memories of 2-0 defeats at Cardiff and QPR.
With Mark Little and Josh Vela unavailable due to a ban and ankle ligament problem respectively, Phil Parkinson had at least two switches to make.
And he really rang the changes with Dorian Dervite, Andy Taylor, Jem Karacan, Aaron Wilbraham, Clough and Morais restored to the starting team.
Black Cats boss Chris Coleman had a few moves of his own to make, opting to bring back the experience of Brian Oviedo and the athletic prowess of Lamine Kone and Paddy McNair.
But it was the crafty Morais that unlocked the door 17 minutes in, after opening exchanges that had seemed low on quality and tempo.
Not something you could say about The Postman’s sumptuous ball in from the left.
Taylor had won the free kick and Morais trotted over from the opposite wing, seemingly without a care in the world. The wait was well worth it as Morais put the ball right on the money, a crowd of players from both teams converging as it bounced in front of the visitors’ keeper Lee Camp.
It found its way past Camp and into the back of the net, prompting Clough to wheel away in celebration, though whether he got any kind of contact on the ball, let alone the vital one to wrong-foot Camp, is debatable but it was credited to the Nottingham Forest youngster, for his first for the club since January 2017, his farewell in a defeat to Charlton.
But although that goal should have given the Whites fresh impetus, it galvanised Sunderland, who had looked genuine relegation fodder for the most part.
Bolton-raised Ashley Fletcher, on loan from the Black Cats’ local rivals Middlesbrough, had a terrific chance to get his present team back on level terms on the half-hour mark, latching onto a flick-on from Joel Asoro.
Facing up to the former Canon Slade pupil, Ben Alnwick kept his side’s noses in front. As Fletcher opened up his body to curl it into the far corner of the goal, the keeper stood his ground, refusing to commit himself until he had to.
He only got a brush on the ball but having got his angles spot on it was enough to deflect it out for a corner.
Alnwick did survive one more nervy moment, though it was not his doing. When Fletcher pounced on a weak header from an off-balance David Wheater, it was the other Twin Tower, Mark Beevers, who came to his aid.
Beevers was quickly out of the blocks to charge down Fletcher’s shot, the deflected shot looping over the back-tracking Alnwick and, fortunately for Wanderers, just wide.
For all their possession, Sunderland failed to trouble him as much again.
The game was not a terrific watch, if truth be told, on a night to forget for Fletcher.
And on their rare forays up front, Wanderers went the closer to a second goal, Sammy Ameobi having a fierce drive deflected narrowly wide, before Morais was at it again, pinpointing substitute Adam Le Fondre’s head.
Camp rescued his side’s chances of salvaging anything with a fine reaction save low to his right.
Within seconds he was helpless as Karacan crashed his finish against the bar.
But most of the second half was an uphill battle for the Whites, with every free kick awarded by David Coote being met with mass disapproval in the stands, unsafe in the knowledge the ball would be sent into the danger area.
Morais picked up a booking during six minutes of stoppage time but even the visitors’ dead-ball specialist, Aiden McGeady, could not pick out anyone capable of beating Alnwick, who was clearly in ‘none shall pass’ mode.
It was frantic at the end, and six minutes of stoppage time, thanks mainly to an extended spell of treatment to Morais, did not help anyone’s shredded nerves.
But once Alnwick got firm palms to a drilled shot, fired in desperation midway through that extra period, the game was up for Sunderland.
Match ratings
WANDERERS (3-5-2)
BEN ALNWICK 7.5
DORIAN DERVITE 6
MARK BEEVERS 6
DAVID WHEATER 6.5
FILIPE MORAIS 8
KARL HENRY 6
JEM KARACAN 7
SAMMY AMEOBI 8
ANDY TAYLOR 7
ZACH CLOUGH 7
AARON WILBRAHAM 6
Subs: Le Fondre 6.5 (for Wilbraham 60), Derik 6 (for Clough 60), Burke (for Karacan 90). Not used: Howard, Flanagan, Robinson, Walker, Burke
Sunderland (3-5-2): Camp, Jones, O’Shea, Kone, Clarke-Salter, Oviedo, Cattermole, McNair, Asoro, Honeyman, Fletcher.
Subs: McGeady (for Jones 63), Maja (for Clarke-Salter 72), McManaman (for Asoro 80). Not used: Steele, Williams, Love, Robson.
Referee: David Coote
Attendance: 14,915
Zach Clough still has a poacher’s instinct and Filipe Morais has an eye for a killer pass into the danger area.
And just such a combination – though exact details remain sketchy – gave Wanderers a vital goal in their battle to avoid the drop into League One.
Hosting Sunderland, a team with their own relegation fears, the Whites banished all memories of 2-0 defeats at Cardiff and QPR.
With Mark Little and Josh Vela unavailable due to a ban and ankle ligament problem respectively, Phil Parkinson had at least two switches to make.
And he really rang the changes with Dorian Dervite, Andy Taylor, Jem Karacan, Aaron Wilbraham, Clough and Morais restored to the starting team.
Black Cats boss Chris Coleman had a few moves of his own to make, opting to bring back the experience of Brian Oviedo and the athletic prowess of Lamine Kone and Paddy McNair.
But it was the crafty Morais that unlocked the door 17 minutes in, after opening exchanges that had seemed low on quality and tempo.
Not something you could say about The Postman’s sumptuous ball in from the left.
Taylor had won the free kick and Morais trotted over from the opposite wing, seemingly without a care in the world. The wait was well worth it as Morais put the ball right on the money, a crowd of players from both teams converging as it bounced in front of the visitors’ keeper Lee Camp.
It found its way past Camp and into the back of the net, prompting Clough to wheel away in celebration, though whether he got any kind of contact on the ball, let alone the vital one to wrong-foot Camp, is debatable but it was credited to the Nottingham Forest youngster, for his first for the club since January 2017, his farewell in a defeat to Charlton.
But although that goal should have given the Whites fresh impetus, it galvanised Sunderland, who had looked genuine relegation fodder for the most part.
Bolton-raised Ashley Fletcher, on loan from the Black Cats’ local rivals Middlesbrough, had a terrific chance to get his present team back on level terms on the half-hour mark, latching onto a flick-on from Joel Asoro.
Facing up to the former Canon Slade pupil, Ben Alnwick kept his side’s noses in front. As Fletcher opened up his body to curl it into the far corner of the goal, the keeper stood his ground, refusing to commit himself until he had to.
He only got a brush on the ball but having got his angles spot on it was enough to deflect it out for a corner.
Alnwick did survive one more nervy moment, though it was not his doing. When Fletcher pounced on a weak header from an off-balance David Wheater, it was the other Twin Tower, Mark Beevers, who came to his aid.
Beevers was quickly out of the blocks to charge down Fletcher’s shot, the deflected shot looping over the back-tracking Alnwick and, fortunately for Wanderers, just wide.
For all their possession, Sunderland failed to trouble him as much again.
The game was not a terrific watch, if truth be told, on a night to forget for Fletcher.
And on their rare forays up front, Wanderers went the closer to a second goal, Sammy Ameobi having a fierce drive deflected narrowly wide, before Morais was at it again, pinpointing substitute Adam Le Fondre’s head.
Camp rescued his side’s chances of salvaging anything with a fine reaction save low to his right.
Within seconds he was helpless as Karacan crashed his finish against the bar.
But most of the second half was an uphill battle for the Whites, with every free kick awarded by David Coote being met with mass disapproval in the stands, unsafe in the knowledge the ball would be sent into the danger area.
Morais picked up a booking during six minutes of stoppage time but even the visitors’ dead-ball specialist, Aiden McGeady, could not pick out anyone capable of beating Alnwick, who was clearly in ‘none shall pass’ mode.
It was frantic at the end, and six minutes of stoppage time, thanks mainly to an extended spell of treatment to Morais, did not help anyone’s shredded nerves.
But once Alnwick got firm palms to a drilled shot, fired in desperation midway through that extra period, the game was up for Sunderland.
Match ratings
WANDERERS (3-5-2)
BEN ALNWICK 7.5
DORIAN DERVITE 6
MARK BEEVERS 6
DAVID WHEATER 6.5
FILIPE MORAIS 8
KARL HENRY 6
JEM KARACAN 7
SAMMY AMEOBI 8
ANDY TAYLOR 7
ZACH CLOUGH 7
AARON WILBRAHAM 6
Subs: Le Fondre 6.5 (for Wilbraham 60), Derik 6 (for Clough 60), Burke (for Karacan 90). Not used: Howard, Flanagan, Robinson, Walker, Burke
Sunderland (3-5-2): Camp, Jones, O’Shea, Kone, Clarke-Salter, Oviedo, Cattermole, McNair, Asoro, Honeyman, Fletcher.
Subs: McGeady (for Jones 63), Maja (for Clarke-Salter 72), McManaman (for Asoro 80). Not used: Steele, Williams, Love, Robson.
Referee: David Coote
Attendance: 14,915