Sunderland dominate Northampton Town but failed to make any use of their possession in 0-0 draw

Sunderland dominated possession against Northampton Town but failed to look threatening towards the Cobblers net, the match was rife with end-to-end action with either side looking like they could earn all three points, but it just wasn’t to be.

Sunderland came the closest to breaking the deadlock when possession was stolen on the half-way line, allowing for an attack down the left wing via Aiden McGeady, sending a teasing ball in across the face of goal but the ball evaded the head of Josh Scowen at the back post.

Jack Diamond looked to be a good threat for the Black Cats, the academy graduate enjoyed a number of bright chances on the right-wing but was kept quiet by Sam Hoskins who had his defensive work cut out against the winger.

All of Lee Johnson’s substitutes today were attacking players as they hunted for the match-winning goal. The defensive shape of the Cobblers proved to overpower the strike force of Sunderland. The Black Cats used four of their five substitutes whilst Keith Curle only made three changes.

Curle will be delighted with his defenders after a positive performance by keeping the Black Cats strike force at bay for the entirety of the match, the Northampton manager is hopeful that his side will show enough to stay up this season.

“We’ve shown good strength of character again today, the more we improve and develop the better the football will come but ultimately right now we need to make sure we accumulate enough points to stay in this division”

With the January transfer window open, it will be interesting to see how Sunderland can better their squad, with the way they performed against Northampton, the North East sleeping giants look a striker away from promotion back to the Championship.

The same also goes for the Cobblers, a prolific goal-scorer is something that Curle’s side have lacked but by bolstering their attacking lines Northampton will have no problem of avoiding the drop back to League Two.

Sunderland remain three points from the Play-Offs as they look to chase Charlton Athletic, meanwhile, Northampton are only three points above the drop zone. However, all teams below them have a game in hand apart from Burton Albion.

The Black Cats now turn to the Papa John’s Trophy as they play host to Port Vale whilst Northampton host MK Dons in their third home game in a row.

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