AIDEN MCGEADY WAS absent for Sunderland as they seized a narrow one-goal advantage in the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final against Portsmouth tonight.
Ireland winger McGeady was forced to withdraw from the Sunderland starting XI after pulling up in the warm-up, but the home side had Chris Maguire’s stunning second-half strike to thank for a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light.
After hitting the front, Jack Ross’ side had to dig deep to hold onto their lead after Alim Ozturk was shown a straight red card for bringing down Gareth Evans, the Black Cats forced to play the final 23 minutes with 10 men.
But Sunderland, who nearly doubled their advantage through Maguire as he saw another effort come back off the post, held firm to take the initiative to Fratton Park for Thursday’s second leg.
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McGeady a late withdrawal as Sunderland earn narrow play-off advantage
AIDEN MCGEADY WAS absent for Sunderland as they seized a narrow one-goal advantage in the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final against Portsmouth tonight.
Ireland winger McGeady was forced to withdraw from the Sunderland starting XI after pulling up in the warm-up, but the home side had Chris Maguire’s stunning second-half strike to thank for a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light.
After hitting the front, Jack Ross’ side had to dig deep to hold onto their lead after Alim Ozturk was shown a straight red card for bringing down Gareth Evans, the Black Cats forced to play the final 23 minutes with 10 men.
But Sunderland, who nearly doubled their advantage through Maguire as he saw another effort come back off the post, held firm to take the initiative to Fratton Park for Thursday’s second leg.
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
League One league one play-off Portsmouth Sunderland