Jimmy’s Player Ratings: Burton 0-3 Sunderland - Wyke scores again as Lads ease to victory!

Lee Burge: 7/10

Did brilliantly to push Jonny Smith’s powerful effort onto the bar, enjoyed a relatively quiet afternoon outside of that.

Conor McLaughlin: 7/10

A really solid performance. He kept possession well, his reading of the game was good and I can’t ever remember him being caught out-of-position.

Dion Sanderson: 8/10

Imperious performance. Sanderson’s quality and composure on the ball was perfect to help Sunderland deal with Burton’s press.

He put in one outstanding sliding challenge and saved his teammates with an excellent clearance inside the six-yard-box when everyone else had switched off from a corner.

Luke O’Nien: 7/10

Great, aggressive showing from O’Nien he was powerful and tenacious in his physical battles. He made a number of key interceptions and looked like a midfielder passing out from the back.

He made one bad positional error and had one poor clearance in the build-up to Albion hitting the bar, but overall this was another impressive performance.

Lynden Gooch: 8/10

Started the game off excellently, really simplifying his game after his struggles against Lincoln. From there the Gooch we all know and love showed up.

He took people on without getting tunnel vision, picked a brilliant pass to McGeady that nearly earned him an assist, and then rifled in a beauty. His shot crashed over the line after colliding with the underside of the crossbar, a super effort on his weaker foot.

Grant Leadbitter: 6/10

Scored a sensational opener with a disgusting amount of ease. The rest of Leadbitter’s performance was patchy. He gave away the ball a tonne, especially early on, and followed up his perfectly measured goal with some wild, wasteful shots from distance.

Max Power: 7/10

Like McLaughlin, Power’s game was all about simplicity and using the ball well and keeping things ticking over. Power got through a lot of work without ever doing anything particularly eye-catching.

Jake Vokins: 7/10

Looked much more at home as a wing back. Managed to get into the box after beating his man with a brilliant first touch and just looked a lot more comfortable at this level, playing higher up the pitch.

Aiden McGeady: 7/10

Had some moments of real quality, he released Gooch early with a defensive-opening pass. Some of his close control was excellent, the one drawback was a lot of McGeady’s more ambitious passes didn’t come off.

Aiden O’Brien: 7/10

Did a good job of providing an outlet and dropped into midfield regularly to link play with decent success.

Charlie Wyke: 7/10

Pressed well, didn’t see much of the ball. Wyke did hit the post squandering a decent chance from close range.

Even on a ‘quieter’ day the goal machine still found time to finish superbly. His first time hit was just another example of his growing ruthlessness and confidence in the 18-yard-box.

(SUB) Jordan Jones: 7/10

Nearly scored and then was the architect of Sunderland’s third. The weight of his pass through to Wyke was superb, he rolled the ball into the striker’s path perfectly to encourage a first time shot.

(SUB) Carl Winchester: 7/10

Kept things simple for the most part adding composure to a second-half that had become surprisingly chaotic. His moment of the match was undoubtedly one excellent drag back.

(SUB) Josh Scowen: 5/10

Came on ran around a lot without providing much quality or really impacting the game.

(SUB) Jack Diamond: n/a

Came on with 13 minutes to go and the game already won.

(SUB) Chris Maguire: n/a

Came on for Power late on.

Man of the Match

Lynden Gooch