Sunderland 1-2 Swansea City: Ronald double condemns Mike Dodds’ Black Cats to defeat

Mike Dodds’ second spell as Sunderland’s interim head coach began with defeat as Brazilian winger Ronald inspired Swansea City to victory at the Stadium of Light.

Ronald, a January signing from Brazilian club Gremio Anapolis, scored a second goal nine minutes later as he finished expertly after being picked out by Joe Allen.

Swansea might have been out of sight by half-time, with Przemyslaw Placheta hitting the post, before Sunderland’s second-half improvement was rewarded when Luke O’Nien headed them back into the contest.

But there was to be no change in fortunes for Sunderland following the sacking of Michael Beale, with the Black Cats’ play-off hopes suffering another blow as they slipped to a third straight Championship defeat.

Victory was timely for Luke Williams’ side, who were under pressure to deliver having lost five of their previous six league games, though results elsewhere mean they remain only four points above the bottom three.

Sunderland stay 10th, but the gap to the top six now stands at eight points.

Beale was dismissed last Monday after only 12 games in charge, prompting the Sunderland hierarchy to turn to assistant coach Dodds for the second time this season.

After the departure of Tony Mowbray in December, Dodds masterminded notable victories over West Brom and Leeds before defeat at Bristol City marked the end of his first spell in interim control.

Dodds’ bid to secure a third win as Sunderland’s leader was not helped by the absence of leading scorer Jack Clarke, through injury, and defender Dan Ballard, who was beginning a two-match ban.

Ballard was sorely missed during a first half in which Swansea looked as menacing as they have all season.

Their first goal was the result of a sweeping passing move, the visitors breaking from their own penalty area before Josh Tymon’s arcing cross was headed goalwards by Cullen.

His effort was parried by Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, but the ball fell perfectly for Ronald to guide in his first goal in English football.

Placheta should have stretched Swansea’s advantage, the Poland winger seeing one effort pawed away by Patterson before he lifted wastefully over the bar from Ronald’s perfect centre.

Ronald, who was on loan in the Portuguese top flight with Estrela da Amadora before moving to Wales, then delivered the second goal his team deserved, controlling Allen’s crossfield pass before guiding a shot low into the far corner.

Placheta then threatened again, heading against the woodwork after a short-corner routine.

Sunderland’s best first-half efforts were tame, with Abdoullah Ba and Nazariy Rusyn drawing routine saves from Carl Rushworth, and they were booed off by some sections of the home support at the break.

Dodds’ side improved in the second period, though home opportunities were limited until a set-piece undid Swansea, Pierre Ekwah’s left-wing free-kick allowing the unmarked O’Nien to head home at the far post.

With that the Wearside crowd demanded a late push for an equaliser, but it was Swansea who went closest to scoring again when Ronald’s drive was turned on to the upright by Patterson.

Sunderland interim head coach Mike Dodds:

“It didn’t work [in the first half]. I don’t think you need to be a football expert to see that.

“One thing I demonstrated last time and I will keep reiterating is that while I am in this position, I am going to make bold decisions. Sometimes that’s going to be a positive and sometimes that’s going to be negative.

“The ironic thing was we wanted to be bold and really aggressive in terms of tagging certain players, and second half in terms of our set-up we were actually more reserved but looked more aggressive.

“Clearly first half there were one or two things I wasn’t happy with. The second half was miles better. But we have to take that first 45 minutes on the chin – myself, the staff, the players, all of us.”

Swansea head coach Luke Williams:

“Particularly the first-half performance was strong, we were very dominant, so I think we were value for the result.

“We have been seeing some really good performance markers in games but it’s difficult at the end of those games when the result is negative. We felt we were improving bit by bit and today is a big step forward for us.

“We need now to try to improve, so we can control longer periods of a game and maybe weather a storm better.

“But on the flipside of that, I got to see the guys defending in a really tough venue to play at when the crowd get behind the team.”