Bolton 6-0 Sunderland match report where the weak black cats raised the white flag

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Recession-free Sunderland crashed to the biggest defeat in their third-class history as they ran the white flag at Bolton.

The Black Cats disappointed the 5,300 fans who made the trip through the Pennines, many of whom got an early start at home well before full time – which gave them at least a sight of two late Bolton goals that turned the defeat into a humiliating humiliation.

Full time, Sunderland’s players tried to apologise to the fans who stayed on until the bitter end, but it was no surprise that they weren’t given much heed.

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A fatal mistake by goalkeeper Thorpen Hoffman gifted the first goal to Dion Charles, before Dabo Avolayan doubled the hosts’ lead before the end of the first half.

Charles added another shortly after the break, and Kieran Lee made it 4-0 in the minute.

Adding January, Danny Path netted five minutes from the end, before Declan John scored the sixth goal two minutes from the end.

It was a poor performance and a horrible result, and it would do massive damage to Wearside’s mood and put Lee Johnson under pressure.

Sunderland has now won just one of their last five matches and moved out of the automatic promotion positions to third in the table, while this was Bolton’s third straight win which lifted him to 14th in the table.

Johnson made one change in the team that started last weekend’s win over Portsmouth on Wearside with Karl Winchester arriving in the starting line-up and Tom Flanagan on his way, which means a return to fourth place.

Bolton boss Ian Evatt also made one change, in his case to the side that kicked off last weekend’s win over Shrewsbury Town, with Avolayan joining the side in place of Amadou Bakayoko.

Bolton started at a high pace but, having weathered that early storm, Sunderland began putting pressure on the hosts once again as the Trotters defense looked uncomfortable on the ball when pressed.

But the Black Cats were unable to test home guard James Trafford, and instead gave Bolton the lead in the 19th minute.

Bolton scores his first goal against Sunderland (Image: PA)

Trafford played a long ball in midfield and when Thorben Hoffmann went off his line to tackle it, he got there too late and Charles smashed his shot over the goalkeeper and bounced into the empty net.

It was Hoffman’s blunder, and Bolton almost doubled his lead after about two minutes when Marlon Fossey slipped off the right and found Kieran Lee’s low cross unmarked but he fired over the bar from 12 yards when he should have scored.

Avolayan saw a shot saved soon after, but found the net in the 42nd minute when Sunderland’s attack collapsed and Bolton shot them over the counter.

The ball was passed to Charles on the right and Lee touched his low cross into Afolayan’s way, leaving him with a simple shot six yards away.

Sunderland made minimal threat in the first half, with Dennis Serkin firing over the bar from distance while Elliott Embleton sent a volley into Trafford from outside the box.

If Sunderland were poor in the first half, they were diabolical in the second as Bolton added two more goals before the hour mark.

Jones’ cross from the right headed by Avolayan into the far corner of Charles for a shot from inside the six-yard area in the 51st minute.

Johnson responded with a double substitution by signing a loan from Tottenham Hotspur Jack Clarke on his debut, as Alex Pritchard came in, with Dennis Serkin and Dan Neal on hand.

Bolton Wanderers’ Declan John (not pictured) celebrates scoring his team’s sixth goal (Image: PA)

But in the 59th minute, Lee took advantage of more sad defenses that added the fourth goal, to pass Hoffman from six yards after being sent by Charles.

Johnson sent another new baby on Patrick Roberts in the last 25 minutes, but by then it was a lost cause.

Bakayoko hit a cross with a header from Hoffman by Al Baath in the 85th minute, and three minutes after Fossi’s cross from the right, John hit a ball that hit the right post.

How did they line up

Sunderland: Hoffman, Winchester, Pat, Doyle, Sirkin (Pritchard 53), Evans, Neil (Clark 53), Dagaco (Roberts 66), Embleton, Gotch, Stewart. Unused subs: Patterson, Flanagan, O’Brien, Hume

Booked: Doyle, Gooch

Bolton Wanderers: Trafford, Jones, Santon, Johnston, Fossey, Williams, Morley, John, Lee (Saddler 71), Charles (Bakayoko 71), Avolayan (Podvarsson 71). Unused subs: Dixon, Emson, Thomason, Baptiste

Booked: Bakayoko

Referee: Steve Martin (Staffordshire)

Attendance: 20,059

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