Ross Stewart And Amad Diallo Were On Target As Sunderland Overcame 10-man Middlesbrough

In the Wear-Tees derby, Sunderland defeated 10-man Middlesbrough thanks to goals from Ross Stewart and Amad Diallo.Early in the second half, Stewart scored on the rebound after Zack Steffen had saved his penalty.Dael Fry's expulsion for giving up the penalty kick left Boro weakened, and they battled valiantly but were unsuccessful.Nine minutes from time, Diallo thrashed the Black Cats after exchanging passes with Patrick Roberts to secure the winWith only one point separating them from Boro, who drop to sixth, Sunderland's victory moves them up to ninth position in the Championship standings.

Relive Sunderland's Wear-Tees derby victory over Middlesbrough.

When Steffen's errant clearance went right to Diallo in the ninth minute and he had only the goalkeeper to beat, the hosts should have taken the lead. However, Diallo scuffed his strike across the goal.Following Steffen's mishandling of a Roberts shot, the on-loan Manchester United winger came even closer with a deflected volley, but Stewart's effort was disallowed for offside.Just before halftime, Steffen made up for his previous mistake by deflecting the Sunderland striker's exquisite half-volley following a rare Fry slip. Roberts created another opportunity that Stewart speared over the bar.Although Black Cats goalkeeper Anthony Patterson had to be alert to jump down and push a Marcus Forss attempt around the post, Boro scarcely had an impact at the other end.But four minutes after the restart, Sunderland took the lead when Fry once more made a mistake, hauling down Stewart as he pursued a through pass and receiving a straight red card from referee James Linington.

Stewart's penalty attempt hit the post when Steffen dived to his left as predicted, but the rebound dropped perfectly for the Scotland international to score his sixth goal in as many appearances.Paddy McNair, a former Sunderland player who was brought on by Middlesbrough to strengthen their defence, made a crucial challenge to stop Edouard Michu from increasing the home team's lead.Riley McGree and Hayden Hackney both had half-chances, but the visitors were unable to overcome a Sunderland team that wisely used their lead.When Diallo received a pass from Roberts and cut inside onto his left foot before shooting past Steffen, he secured the points.

Tony Mowbray, the manager of Sunderland, spoke on BBC Radio Newcastle:

"I believe we deserved to win; we made opportunities and moved the ball well against a solid club that has very clear-cut playing strategies," said the team captain.Although Middlesbrough will undoubtedly have their own thoughts, in my perspective, the outcome is correct.I appreciate this bunch of players because they are trying hard to improve as a team and are adjusting to this division."Getting to the play-offs or being promoted is not something that I or the folks in suits at this club have high expectations for." "We just need to keep working to create a club that can contend in this division, and as we grow it over the course of the next year or two, the team's goals will get higher," said 

Michael Carrick, the head coach of Middlesbrough, stated on BBC Radio Tees:

We are quite disappointed. With the judgements that have obviously gone against us, the way things have turned out is difficult to accept.The major decision is the erroneous penalty and the subsequent sending off, which in my opinion is absurd."Dael [Fry] has made no move to take him out of the game. There is daylight between them, a yard beyond the box."Ross is well within his rights to go down, but sending Dael off in addition to penalising him when he's not in the box is a double punch for us.