On Wednesday night, Sunderland cruised to a 2-0 win over Luton Town. But it wasn’t a pleasant evening for everyone in the Championship.
Sunderland keep the heat in the race for promotion from the Championship after a steady 2-0 win over a rather dismal looking Luton Town side on Wednesday night.
Enzo Le Fee opened his account for the Black Cats with a curling first half effort, before Wilson Isidor scored his 11th of the season with yet another tidy finish.
There were several positives from the game including the Man of the Match performance from Dan Neil in midfield. Elsewhere, BBC pundit Gary Bennett sung his praises of Patrick Roberts who’s faced criticism in recent weeks.
But elsewhere in the Championship, there was some heartbreak. In particular, former Sunderland manager Alex Neil watched on as his Millwall side were thumped 5-1 away at Plymouth Argyle.
Sunderland drew with Plymouth Argyle just a few games ago. But the Green Army outclassed the Lions on Wednesday night, scoring four before the hour mark.
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Alex Neil devastated after heavy Millwall defeat at Plymouth Argyle
Speaking after the game, Neil didn’t hide his emotions. He was gutted with the performance and the scoreline, telling Southwark News: “I’m bitterly disappointed. It couldn’t have gone much worse for us if I’m being honest. I think that the goals that we did concede, I didn’t think Plymouth needed to do much to score them if I’m honest.”
In fact, Wednesday’s defeat at Plymouth Argyle was the first time a Neil side in the Championship has conceded five goals since October 2016, when his Norwich City outfit were hammered 5-0 at Brighton who won promotion that season.
Neil continued: “Obviously it’s very rare, you probably look back over the last decade that I’ve been in the Championship, that my team would ever concede five goals. So from that perspective, that for me is bitterly disappointing for me as it is for the players.
“But the fact is, whether we lose 1-0 or whether we lose 5-1, I know it’s very, very different, but it’s three points gone. We need to focus on what the next game looks like.”
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What was Alex Neil’s record as Sunderland manager?
Neil certainly boasts a steady record at Championship level, with one promotion on his CV with Norwich City in 2015. He also has that League One promotion to his name with Sunderland in 2022.
Impressively, Neil has overseen 307 games in the Championship as manager. He’s won 119 of those (38.76%), averaging 1.41 points-per-game.
The 43-year-old’s tenure at the Stadium of Light was short-lived and ended in controversial circumstances, leaving after a strong start to the 2022/23 Championship campaign to take the Stoke City job.
But in 24 games as Black Cats boss, Neil won 12, losing just three times and never conceding more than two goals in a single game.
So far at Millwall, Neil has five wins from 10 games. He’ll want to put this Plymouth defeat quickly behind him and bounce back against Tony Mowbray’s West Brom on Saturday.