Sunderland matchwinners Luke O’Nien and Lynden Gooch earn manager’s praise - 7M sport

Sunderland matchwinners Luke O’Nien and Lynden Gooch earn manager’s praise



Posted Sunday, September 20, 2020 by PA

Sunderland matchwinners Luke O’Nien and Lynden Gooch earn manager’s praise

Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson was full of praise for his matchwinners Luke O’Nien and Lynden Gooch after his side’s 2-0 Sky Bet League One victory over Oxford at the Kassam Stadium.

Right wing back O’Nien drove past goalkeeper Simon Eastwood two minutes after the break when Chris Maguire’s shot ricocheted kindly to him after some pinball in Oxford’s box.

And Gooch scored an excellent individual goal with a burst of pace past two defenders before slotting home after 82 minutes, just four minutes after coming off the bench.

It brought the Black Cats their first league win of the season and Parkinson said: “The first half was scrappy in the blustery conditions and Oxford probably played it longer than they normally do – but I thought we did all right.

“But the second half we dominated. We got the first goal early and should have scored the second before we did.

“But it was a very professional performance from us today. The back three were very good – we stood strong.

“Everyone knows this is a difficult place to come and it was a great tonic for us to win 2-0 here.

“I thought O’Nien was excellent. That was probably the most productive he has been.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Goochy’s goal again on TV, to be honest.

“There won’t be many better goals around the country this weekend.

“Goochy has trained very well all this week and it was hard for me not to put him in the team.

“It wasn’t just the goal – both he and Charlie Wyke were excellent when they came on.

“We played the right ball at the right time, which is so important, especially away from home.”

Oxford boss Karl Robinson ordered his players back in on Sunday morning to go through a video of the game, which leaves the U’s with two defeats out of two in the league and no goals.

Robinson admitted having to bite his tongue afterwards.

“There’s a lot I would like to say but I don’t think I should,” he said.

“It’s the reaction from us conceding the first goal to the second goal that I’m furious about.

“It’s as bad a performance second half as I’ve seen from us here, that’s how bad it was – and the players are in early tomorrow to go through it.

“Sunderland started better than us, but the first half was very even, I think.

“It was a very bland first half but we probably had the best chance of the 45 minutes, falling to James Henry.

“We were unfortunate with the first goal, good finish though it was, because it took a wicked deflection to get to him. But from then on it was not acceptable.

“Yes, we have a lot of injuries and I am having to reshuffle my players and we had to change the system three times today, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse.

“We just got overrun in the second half.”

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