Football League World
·10 November 2024
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·10 November 2024
We took a look at how Sunderland's attendance at the Stadium of Light compared to the rest of the Championship's games from Friday and Saturday.
Sunderland surrendered a two-goal lead in the second half of their game against Coventry City on Saturday, leaving the vast majority in attendance at the Stadium of Light going home frustrated.
The Black Cats went into the half-time interval with two goals to the good after two memorable strikes, first from Wilson Isidor, before a brilliant solo run from Dennis Cirkin saw the defender rifle his long-ranged effort past Coventry goalkeeper Brad Collins.
However, despite the odds being stacked against the managerless Sky Blues, a Haji Wright goal just after the hour mark brought them to within one, before an 84th minute header from Jack Rudoni levelled the scores in the closing stages.
2-2 is how it would finish, as Regis Le Bris' Sunderland head into the international break having seen their lead at the top of the Championship cut drastically after recording three straight draws, whilst Coventry remain in the bottom half of the table.
But how many supporters were inside the Stadium of Light on Saturday? And how does that figure compare to the rest of the attendances from across the division's games from Friday and Saturday?
Using figures from Football Web Pages, FLW takes a look. (Cardiff City v Blackburn attendance not available at time of writing)
Sunderland supporters are some of the most passionate fans you'll find in the Championship, and indeed in English football.
Football and their club is a way of life on Wearside, as it is across the North East region, and the level of support they show at the Stadium of Light makes it one of the toughest and most hostile places to go as the opposition side in the division.
Despite suffering a blip in their winning rhythm over the last few games, Black Cats supporters won't have lost confidence in Le Bris and his players, as they hope to cheer on their side all the way back to the Premier League this season.
So, how many passed through the Stadium of Light's turnstiles on Saturday? According to Football Web Pages, 43,374 supporters packed out the ground to witness the 2-2 draw.
But was that enough to make Sunderland v Coventry the highest attended game in the Championship across Friday and Saturday?
These attendances are largely more of a reflection on the size of the respective stadiums, as opposed to the level of support shown by the various sets of supporters.
Nevertheless, Watford's Vicarage Road, Portsmouth's Fratton Park and Stoke City's bet365 Stadium recorded the three lowest crowds in the second tier across Friday and Saturday's fixtures. But where do they rank among each other?
20,268 were in attendance to witness Watford's 1-0 victory over Oxford United on Friday night, whilst 20,295 crammed into Fratton Park to watch Portsmouth record their first home win of the season, beating Preston by three goals to one.
Meaning Pompey just edged out the Hornets' attendance by a mere 27 supporters, leaving Stoke City's crowd of 21,060 for the Potters' 1-1 draw with Millwall as being the biggest attendance of this bottom trio.
Moving on to the next group of attendances trying to rival Sunderland's crowd, we find Middlesbrough, Norwich City and Derby County respectively.
Boro's 5-1 thrashing of struggling Luton Town drew recorded an attendance of 23,692, as Michael Carrick's side continue to show signs of improvement in regard to being able to take their chances in front of goal.
It was a dismal afternoon at Carrow Road, however, as Norwich City recorded their third successive defeat at the hands of Bristol City, 26,423 were in attendance to witness the Canaries' 2-0 loss to the Robins.
Derby County welcomed former manager Wayne Rooney back to Pride Park on Saturday, as his Plymouth Argyle side played out a 1-1 draw with the Rams. 29,652 witnessed the stalemate.
That leaves just one more fixture to rival Sunderland's attendance of 43,374; Leeds United v Queens Park Rangers.
Unfortunately for Leeds, Elland Road's capacity is 37,645, which means that it doesn't take a mathematician to work out that their attendance will be lower than that of the Black Cats'.
However, the 36,011-strong crowd that witnessed Daniel Farke's side secure a 2-0 win over the Hoops was enough to see the club record the second-highest attendance across the Championship's Friday and Saturday fixtures.
Like the Stadium of Light, Elland Road is one of the division's most historic, iconic and most hostile, as the two clubs could be set for a season-long promotion battle this term.
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