Leeds United Loss Made Sunderland Lose Next Game – Former Whites Forward | OneFootball

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Michael Bridges thinks that Leeds United beating Sunderland in the manner they did contributed to the Black Cats then losing against Hull City.

Leeds played host to Sunderland at Elland Road in the Championship earlier this month and were trailing to a Wilson Isidor goal until the 78th minute.

Then Pascal Struijk, on off the bench, scored two goals, the first in the 78th minute and the second deep into stoppage time, to hand Leeds a 2-1 win and break Black Cats hearts.

Having led until so late in the game, to then be pegged back and ultimately lose at the death was a big blow for Regis Le Bris’ men, who had aspirations of climbing into a top two automatic promotion spot.

Bridges was watching the game and also paying close attention to the body language of the Sunderland players after the final whistle.

The former Leeds striker thinks that the manner of the loss deeply affected Sunderland and so much so that they then lost 1-0 against relegation battlers Hull in their next match.

Sunderland beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on Friday evening to return to winning ways, but still sit eight points off the final automatic promotion place in the Championship table.

“I was saying about the Sunderland result, after their defeat late on”, Bridges explained on LUTV (14:52).

“I could tell by the Sunderland players’ body language that they were done and dusted because they knew for that top two spot they had to win that game [against Leeds], so they were really affected.

“That was the knock-on effect when they got beat by Hull City.

“They’ve since redeemed themselves and got themselves back with another win.”

Sunderland’s next two league games come against sides in the bottom half of the table in the shape of Cardiff City and Preston North End, with both matches at the Stadium of Light.

Making up an eleven-point deficit to Leeds looks an almost impossible task for Sunderland, but the Whites’ next outing is away at Portsmouth, who have made Fratton Park something of a fortress in recent weeks.