One Sunderland star was absolutely ‘dominant’ during their 1-0 win over West Brom.
Sunderland have now claimed six points against West Brom after another brilliant defensive display at The Hawthorns yesterday.
The Black Cats were boosted by Brandon Thomas-Asante’s red card just before half-time, while it was Pierre Ekwah that managed to open the scoring shortly after.
Sunderland’s backline then effectively held up a ‘YOU SHALL NOT PASS’ sign for the entire second half and it really worked, with West Brom only managing three shots on target during the whole match.
In fact, Mike Dodds‘ side managed more shots in total than their hosts, and even claimed more possession – despite spending most of the first half just in front of Anthony Patterson.
One player who was labelled the ‘pantomime villain’ was Dan Ballard, and boy did he live up to it.
The defender wasn’t very popular at The Hawthorns after injuring Josh Maja in their earlier meeting, so was met with a chorus of boos every time he touched the ball.
Ballard was then spotted celebrating in front of the West Brom fans following Ekwah’s winner, while the three points looked extra special for him at full-time.
‘Dominant’ Dan Ballard
The Baggies’ boos only seemed to spur him on as he put on a ‘dominant’ display in the Midlands.
The 24-year-old made 68 touches, had 91% passing accuracy, won 100% of his headers, completed 80% of his ground duels, made five clearances, one block and one interception.
Ballard was awarded an eight rating by Sunderland Echo, with journalist Phil Smith writing: “Was the pantomime villain after his challenge on Josh Maja earlier this season but dealt with it very well. Dominant defensively and used the ball well, making few errors in possession. Enjoyed celebrating with the fans at the end – and he earned it.”
Would Sunderland have won if he was sent off midweek?
The centre-back has now been present for all five of Sunderland’s clean sheets in their last six games and has really proven his importance to the team.
He was nearly sent off during the draw with Leeds United last time out, and his impact today has shown that the result could have gone very differently if he was sitting in the stands.
While we have struggled defensively for large parts of the campaign, Ballard’s importance is undeniable and it is no coincidence that we have looked a lot better once him and Luke O’Nien were able to link up in defence once again.
While losing Jack Clarke this summer will be a huge loss, if we found ourselves selling Ballard in a few months time then we could be in even more trouble. Replacing those types of players is pretty impossible in the Championship.