Match Report: Sunderland Men’s 1sts 6-4 York Men’s 1sts

Team Sunderland Men’s 1sts secured their first win of the season against York Men’s 1sts in a 6-4 spectacle. 

Team Sunderland opened the scoring early in the 9th minute with a goal by George Pinder. York quickly responded with an equaliser in the 20th minute to make it 1-1.  Sunderland’s Zouhair Ait Benali scored in the 25th minute of the game to take the lead again. Another goal came only a minute later with a goal from Matthew Chapman to make it 3-1 to the home side.

Team Sunderland continued the scoring with a second goal from Pinder, in the 29th minute. Ait Benali then scored his second in the 32nd minute to make it 5-1. York hit back in the 36th minute of the game. They then got another just before half time to make it 5-3.

The first goal in the second half was scored by York in the 57th minute. Team Sunderland then scored the final goal of the game with a third goal by Pinder in the 79th minute, to end the game 6-4.

York Men’s 1sts went into the game unbeaten in the league and looked to go top with games in hand. With Team Sunderland looking to bounce back after a tough 1-0 loss against Leeds Beckett in their last game.

 

The goals came early in the game when a ball was put through to Pinder, who slotted it past the keeper with a composed finish. It didn’t take long for York to respond, a great free kick on the edge of the box was curled into the top corner from the defender, to draw the game level. 

Two goals came in quick succession for Sunderland with Ait Benali blasting the ball over the keeper’s head at close range. Only a minute later, Chapman got onto the end of a whipped in ball with a smart finish to extend Sunderland’s lead. 

The home side continued to dominate the game and showed absolutely no attempt of slowing down. Pinder scored his second goal of the game with a header, beating the keeper in the air after a looping cross. It got worse for York as Ait Benali made it five with plenty of open space and the game looked dead and buried in the first half. 

This was proved wrong as York’s heads didn’t drop. They quickly got a goal back, a strike on the turn rattled the post and then hit the back of the net. Just before the break, the visitors hit home a third and sent them into their half-time team talk with some real belief. 

In the second half,  York’s midfielder scored a lovely goal from outside the box after beating a few players and showed they weren’t going down without a fight. This game was turned massively on its head and the comeback was seriously on after the game looked to be over in the first half. 

York pushed to make it 5-5 but their efforts were shattered after Pinder completed his hat trick for Team Sunderland. Yet another composed finish wrapped up a brilliant performance for him under the lights and secured his team’s first win of the season.