Accrington Stanley 0-2 Sunderland
- Published
Ross Stewart scored on his debut to boost Sunderland's promotion chances in a 2-0 win over Accrington Stanley.
The striker signed from Ross County in January in a £300,000 deal but had been injured since.
However, his 62nd-minute looping header gave the Black Cats the lead before Charlie Wyke made it safe in the 86th minute.
The win took the Sunderland's run to 10 games unbeaten in all competitions and moved them up to third place, after winning the Papa John's Trophy on Sunday.
There was not a lot in it in the first half, although Stanley's Toby Savin was the busier goalkeeper.
He had to push away Jack Diamond's strike and also superbly tipped over a header from his own player Dion Charles.
Stanley's best chance fell to Paul Smyth on 33 minutes, who only had Lee Burge to beat but fired wide.
Lee Johnson put on striker Stewart at the break and he made an impact when Lynden Gooch's ball into the area found the head of the tall striker and the ball looped into the top corner.
Sunderland made it safe when Max Power's corner was headed home by Wyke for his 27th goal of the season.
Match report supplied by PA Media.