Amad Diallo has once again displayed his vital importance to Sunderland as he netted another cracker against Middlesbrough.
The Manchester United attacker has excelled at the Black Cats in England's Championship and fresh off winning the player of the month gong for the second tier, he produced a moment of magic to put Tony Mowbray's men two-goals up in what could prove to be a vital three points in the race for the play-off spots at the end of the season.
It was a goal made in Glasgow as former Celtic fans' favourite Paddy Roberts created the chance by using his direct running to drag out a defender before flicking the ball in the path of Diallo. He then snapped back inside on his left foot before firing an unstoppable effort in at the near post before wheeling away in celebration after netting his seventh league goal in just 21 outings in what has been quite the transformation for the youngster, one year on from joining Rangers on a loan deal last January.
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Giovanni van Bronckhorst brought the highly-regarded forward in as part of a blockbuster loan duo with Aaron Ramsey also arriving at Ibrox 12 months ago in the hopes of landing landing the Premiership crown once again. The title defence didn't go to plan with Celtic winning back the league in Ange Postecoglou's first season but the Light Blues did win the Scottish Cup and reach the Europa League Final. However, Diallo, like Ramsey, didn't enjoy a successful stint north of the border despite getting off to the perfect start with a goal minutes into his debut.
Victory leaves Sunderland ninth in the English Championship standings just one point behind Middlesbrough in the race for the top six. Next up is an FA Cup fourth round tie with Fulham before a trip to face Millwall.
Speaking after the win, boss Tony Mowbray told Chronicle Live: "Amad had an opportunity where he was one-on-one with the keeper where he read the goalie's pass - you were just waiting for the net to bulge on that one.
"Then there was a brilliant bit of play that put Ross Stewart in, a great run across the front of the defender six yards out but the shot went over the bar, and you're normally expecting the net to bulge on that. We knew we'd played alright in the first half, we'd denied them too many clear-cut opportunities and created some ourselves.
"But we've been in games like that where we have been punished, where they score from a set-play, you can't break them down, you lose 1-0 and everybody is unhappy. We played well enough to earn the result today.
"I think we deserved to win, we created chances and we moved the ball well. We played against a good team that has got very definitive patterns of play and rotations in their team.
"We worked hard, we were organised. It was the right result in my mind, but of course Middlesbrough will have their own opinions."
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