Bristol City 3-3 Sunderland
Sunderland produced an emphatic second-half comeback to seal a point at Ashton Gate after being 3-0 down at half-time.
Bristol City opened the scoring after just four minutes as Aden Flint’s well-taken finish breached the Black Cats backline, with Famara Diedhiou’s double securing a commanding lead before the break.
Josh Brownhill’s own goal cut the deficit and Aiden McGeady made it 3-2 with ten minutes remaining, and the all-important moment came in the second minute of added time as Marlon Pack steered Joel Asoro's cross into the net.
Recap all the action below...
TEAM NEWS
Coleman made two changes at Ashton Gate as Jake Clarke-Salter and George Honeyman, who tops Sunderland’s appearance chart this season, came back into the starting XI. Adam Matthews missed out against his former club – the Welshman spent last season on loan at City – and Ethan Robson dropped to the bench alongside Jason Steele who replaced the injured Robbin Ruiter.
CITY STRIKE EARLY
The Black Cats have paid the price for their defending from set pieces throughout the campaign and after just four minutes there was an all-too familiar frustration. Pack whipped a tempting free-kick into the box and Flint was first to react, with the defender’s sublime first touch taking the ball away from Lee Camp and into his stride for a close-range finish. City continued to apply pressure while Ashley Fletcher saw an effort fly wide at the near post, but the tone - at least for the opening period - had already been set and the Black Cats had a lucky escape when Bobby Reid was unable to get Pack’s incisive through ball under his spell.
DIEDHIOU DOUBLE
A second remained on the cards, though, and it arrived just after the half-hour mark as Diedhiou broke the offside trap and rounded Camp to double City’s lead. The powerful striker should have grabbed his second three minutes later as Reid’s cross put it on a plate, but he dusted himself down and eight minutes before the break he was wheeling away again. A swift counter attack engineered by Reid was picked up by Ryan Kent who delivered a pin-point cross to Diedhiou who tucked away the home side’s third. Game over? Not yet.
GLIMMER
Sunderland’s second-half performance was more assured and they hassled and harried in an attempt to find a route back into the game. Fletcher saw a header blocked at close range and Ejaria fired over from 25-yards, with Diedhiou denied his hat-trick at the other end after handling the ball into the net. With 20 minutes remaining, Lee Cattermole’s header thudded against the underside of the crossbar before bouncing off Brownhill and into the net – and the red and white army were on their feet again with ten minutes remaining, as McGeady turned home Cattermole’s clever free-kick.
COMEBACK COMPLETE
Fletcher should have levelled in the final seconds of normal time, but somehow, someway, Fielding produced a save to divert it over the crossbar. That felt like the moment we'd all been waiting for, but the Black Cats only needed two of the four additional minutes to clinch a point, as Asoro’s cross was turned into his own net by Pack. Comeback complete.
Bristol City: Fielding, Bryan, Flint, Wright, Smith, Diedhiou (Walsh 93), Reid (Diony 45), Paterson, Pack, Kent (Magnusson 93).
Subs not used: Steele, Engvall, Woodrow, Elliasson.
Sunderland: Camp, O’Shea, Browning, Clarke-Salter, Jones, Oviedo (LuaLua 59), Cattermole, Honeyman (McGeady 71), Ejaria (Robson 83), Asoro, Fletcher.
Subs not used: Steele, Maja, Love, Gooch.