Andy’s Player Ratings: Sunderland 1-0 Reading - Late Roberts winner secures three points!

Anthony Patterson: 6/10

Barely had anything to do but didn’t look overly comfortable today despite that.

Trai Hume: 7/10

Really good defensively today and was very good in the air too, often competing against Andy Carroll.

Dan Ballard: 7/10

Really comfortable at the back, with Reading struggling to create anything of note up against Ballard and Batth.

Danny Batth (C): 7/10

Same as Ballard, comfortable all match. Should have done better with a chance from a corner but couldn’t get his header on target.

Aji Alese: 7/10

Not particularly tested defensively down his side and ended up being a threat at the top end of the pitch with a hybrid left-back/striker role for much of the second half.

Edouard Michut: 7/10

Played a really nice ball to Gelhardt that the striker should have scored from and had a good chance himself but could only fire over after chest a loose ball down. Otherwise was solid in possession.

Dan Neil: 6/10

Tidy in the middle of the park without making much of an impact, did put a good cross in that led to a chance that Michut blazed over.

Patrick Roberts: 7/10

Not at his best today but still looked our most likely scorer, with a couple of shots from the D proving dangerous, and so it proved when his determined run gave him an opportunity to score, which he thankfully took.

Amad: 5/10

Didn’t particularly do anything wrong today, just looked a bit tired and not as influential.

Jack Clarke: 5/10

Picked out Roberts well shortly before he went off but really quiet today.

Joe Gelhardt: 5/10

Had a good chance that he could only drag wide but really struggled to impact the game.

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Substitutes

Alex Pritchard: 6/10

Gave us a bit more impetus after he replaced the seemingly tired Amad.

Isaac Lihadji: 6/10

Looked very exciting on his Sunderland debut, only had a couple of chances to get going but looks like a good impact player.

Luke O’Nien: 6/10

Kept things simple in the middle of the park but did play a really nice ball out to Clarke which ended up with a Roberts shot fired just over.

Abdoullah Ba: 6/10

A brief appearance for the midfielder and no real chance to make an impact.

Jewison Bennette: 6/10

One good run down the side but also got beat too easily out wide.

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Man of the Match: Aji Alese

Alese just about beats Trai Hume to my man of the match, both full backs were very good today but Alese’s added attacking threat in his multiple foray's forward just about shades it. The left back could have had a couple of goals, put in a good cross that Gelhardt couldn’t get any power on in the first half and still wasn’t troubled defensively despite his attacking runs.

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