Substitutes Dan Neil and Patrick Roberts scored late goals as Sunderland scraped an unconvincing victory against basement side Crewe Alexandra at the Stadium of Light. The Black Cats toiled for 85 minutes against a side that had lost nine of its last ten games, barely testing visiting goalkeeper Dave Richards.
But academy product Neil finally made the breakthrough, just when it seemed that Sunderland might drop two costly points in the race for a play-off place. Roberts then added a second goal in the final minute of normal time to give the scoreline a gloss that did not reflect the game.
For Sunderland, it completed back-to-back wins for the first time in 2022 and it meant they stay fifth in the table on a day when play-off rivals Wycombe, Ipswich, and Portsmouth, all dropped points. Boss Alex Neil made three changes to the side that started the midweek win against Fleetwood.
