Sunderland climbed back into the play-off spots and up to fourth place as they ran riot against ten-man Cambridge United at the Stadium of Light. The Black Cats played for more than 75 minutes with an extra man after U's defender Lloyd Jones was shown a straight red card for denying Ross Stewart a clear goalscoring opportunity, and it was a decisive moment as Stewart also tucked away the resulting penalty.
Elliot Embleton scored a brilliant free-kick just before the hour, only for Paul Digby to halve the deficit within a minute. But Stewart scored his second and Sunderland's third ten minutes before the break, before Nathan Broadhead made it 4-1 shortly after half-time and Danny Batth netted his first goal for the club to complete the rout inside the final 20 minutes.
This win extended Sunderland's unbeaten run to 11 games, and was their fifth home victory in a row. More importantly, it lifted them to fourth in the table - level on points with fifth-placed Plymouth and sixth-placed Wycombe, but ahead of the Pilgrims on goals scored, and ahead of the Chairboys on goal difference. The Black Cats also still have a game in hand of both.
