Blackburn Rovers 2-2 Sunderland: Instant reaction and man of the match

Sunderland Echo

Phil delivers his immediate reaction to Sunderland's draw with Blackburn Rovers

Transcript

00:00Hello from Eywood Park where I'm still getting my breath back after a remarkable game of

00:05football in which Sunderland drew 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers. On the whistle, with all

00:08your questions answered for you along in the morning, but I thought I'd start giving you

00:11a little bit of a sneak reaction on the final whistle and also just look at who I thought

00:15my players of the match were. I think a lot of credit has to go to Blackburn for their

00:18first-half performance. I thought their athleticism was absolutely superb. I thought they outran

00:23Sunderland. I thought their organisation was excellent and they were so clever on the break.

00:26Tyree Stolen came back into the team and I thought he was the most influential player.

00:30I was also really impressed with Yuki Ohashi, the striker. I thought he was relentless in

00:34his running. Caused him all kinds of problems. Hopped up for the goal but got into such good

00:38positions and I think Sunderland were actually quite fortunate to be only one goal behind

00:44it in the first-half. The game changed from nowhere really in the second-half. Blackburn's

00:48press misfired slightly. Chris Rigg took the opportunity to win a header to set his team

00:52free and then did really well to get back and score the goal. Dan Neal, who I thought

00:57had been Sunderland's best player in the first-half, then involved in the second. Trapped a very

01:00fast-moving ball. Springs the pass out to Roberts who then crossed to Isidore. Brilliant,

01:05audacious first-time finish and then Sunderland should have won it. They missed huge chances

01:08after that. Meppan and Rigg especially in the air. They could have gone and put the

01:11game to bed. Although I thought Sunderland defended really well, they were punished late

01:15on by one almost long ball which dropped Clinedley, their substitute Harry Leonard, who converted.

01:20In the end, I think it's a good point for Sunderland. They were in good form to come

01:22away from home and get a point. It's a good result, especially given how good Blackburn

01:28were in the first-half. But it does feel like a little bit of a defeat. I think the only

01:31frustration again is, A, an injury to Chris Rigg late on, which is a concern, and B, the

01:36fact that Sunderland just didn't have those options to get some extra legs on in the last

01:3915-20 minutes. That's been a bit of a recurring theme this season. But good spirit from Sunderland

01:45again. In the end, they're missing a huge chance late on, which would have been one

01:48of the moments of the season so far.

01:51My man of the match from a Sunderland perspective has to be Dan Neil. As I say, I thought Ohashi

01:54was brilliant early on and I thought it was really strange that Blackburn took him off

01:57in the second-half. I thought that really impacted them actually. For me, I thought

02:02Dan Neil was a standout player. I would give him my three gold stars in the old football

02:07pink newspaper terms. I think you've got to give credit to Roberts as well. I would give

02:12him the two gold stars for, after a difficult first half when she was frustrated, having

02:18a big role in both the goals. And then another gold star for Chris Rigg who again, tough

02:22first half but really good desire to get on the end of that cross, that loose ball sorry,

02:27and convert.

02:28So, get your questions in. I'm over on Blue Sky as normal. I've put a call out for questions

02:31but you can also leave your questions in the comments underneath this video. When I get

02:36home tonight, I'll be there with your full, longer On The Whistle. I'll give you some

02:39insight from both the press conferences and both the managers into how they thought the

02:43game went and what the big factors in it were and maybe an update on Rigg's injury. So that

02:47will be On The Whistle. Come back and watch that tomorrow for your normal On The Whistle

02:50video. But hopefully you've enjoyed this little snap reaction and we'll see how well it ages

02:55when I've had a chance to get my breath back.

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