Sunderland Vs MK Dons: Player Ratings

Vito Mannone - 3

Not helped by the mistakes in front of him but looked completely lost for the first and could arguably have done more for the second. Won't be troubling Westwood on this kind of form.

Ondrej Celustka - 7

Improved as the game went on and was generally solid. Sometimes looks ungainly and his crossing could do with some work but his overlapping paid dividends for the 3rd goal.

John O'Shea - 5

When he wasn't making commanding challenges, he was giving away silly free kicks, again, but this time unforgivably against lower division opposition. His passing leaves a lot to be desired but like his centre back partner he was not helped by the complete lack of a central midfield in front of him to play the ball to.

Valentin Roberge - 4

Played some lovely passes from defence but continued where he left off against Fulham in the air. Must improve defensively and on this form looks a better shout for the midfield than those currently occupying the positions.

Jack Colback - 6

Standard Colback performance; committed and reliable defensively but offered next to nothing going forward on the overlap.

Adam Johnson - 9

A fine individual goal capped off a great performance from Johnson. The only starter who offered any attacking threat from the word go, displaying an array of dribbling skills and some excellent deliveries into the box.

Cabral - 3

Invisible for the most part in Sunderland's midfield, only appearing to give the ball away needlessly for the second goal. Easy to see now why Di Canio left him out on the weekend.

David Vaughan - 4

Marginally better than Cabral but did not impose himself on the game enough. Lots of holding onto the ball for a few seconds too long before playing an easy lateral ball. A typical Vaughan display.

David Moberg-Karlsson - 3

Lacked composure, looked over awed and never quite comfortable on the left hand side. His final effort before being subbed was at least on target but otherwise anonymous or memorable only for missing good chances in comical fashion.

Ji Dong-Won - 1

Ji had a stinker from the word go, giving the ball away for the first. He looked visibly crushed by that moment and never really recovered. Should have been subbed at half time and Di Canio's decision to leave him on for an arbitrary 3 minutes before removing him verged on the cruel as the crowd ironically cheered his exit from the pitch. Whatever confidence he did have - and there can't have been much left - will have been completely drained from him then and it would be no surprise if he never played for Sunderland again.

Jozy Altidore - 6

Great to see him get his goal - which he took well - and hopefully he can kick on from there. Of course, that will require Sunderland to create some more proper chances for him, which they failed to do for the majority of this match and indeed during the opening two Premier League games. It was no surprise that he improved massively once Connor Wickham was introduced as he provided some much needed support.

Connor Wickham - 9

The game changer. If Ji could well be finished by tonight's performance, maybe it could be the making of Wickham. Although he has done this sort of thing before - away at Bolton in the FA Cup last season springs to mind - only for him to follow it up with a poor performance, there is no ignoring just how impressive he was tonight. He and Altidore were a real handful and despite missing a decent chance, kept his chin up and scored two goals that dragged Sunderland into the lead.

Seb Larsson - 6

An improvement on Cabral and Vaughan but still lacks the ability to play that killer pass. One moment in particular springs to mind, where he failed to spot Johnson and play him in behind, leaving the winger visibly frustrated. Still, on this performance, a better option than the two starters for the defensive midfield role.

Charis Mavrias - 4

Looked every bit a right winger stuck on the wrong side of the pitch and clearly unfit.

Man Of The Match - Adam Johnson

A toss of the coin between Johnson and Wickham, both of whom contributed significantly to turning this match on it's head. Johnson edges it though as he played the full 90 minutes, standing out as the only player who possessed genuine Premier League quality.

We'll have more match reaction tomorrow right HERE in our Match Stream.