It may not have been pretty, but Sunderland got the job done on a cold jaunt down south to Cambridge to move up to fifth in the League One table.

In a week where Sunderland were dealt a set-back with a long-term injury to Aiden McGeady, their plans were thrown off even further in the pre-match warm up as Corry Evans pulled up, meaning that Lynden Gooch was put in from the off.

Even though it wasn't a vintage Black Cats showing, they did enough in the first half to take all three points back to Wearside thanks to goals from Alex Pritchard and Nathan Broadhead.

Let's look at three things we learnt about Lee Johnson's side in the wake of their success at the Abbey Stadium yesterday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

They can win with their backs against the wall

Cambridge didn't make it comfortable for Sunderland at all and Johnson's side could've easily succumbed after the form they've been in recently.

Before yesterday afternoon it was just one win in Sunderland's last five league games and they stumbled to a 1-1 draw with lowly Shrewsbury in midweek, so they needed something to boost confidence.

Sunderland did have a lot more of the ball than their opponents but the likes of Wes Hoolahan can create danger at any given opportunity so they had to be alert to the dangers, but the second half saw them snuff the U's out pretty well.

3-5-2 may be the way forward

Even though it wasn't a vintage performance, Sunderland did play in the unfamiliar formation of 3-5-2, which some fans have been calling for for weeks amid the recent struggles on the pitch.

It saw two natural attacking wide players in Lynden Gooch and Leon Dajaku play as wing-backs and whilst the latter may have made no impression, Gooch bagged an assist and looked to have a decent match in that role.

Sunderland have a number of good centre-backs for League One level so it always made sense to try out the formation, and when they get the likes of Dennis Cirkin, Niall Huggins and others back from injury - players who will suit playing as wing-backs - then it could be a formation to stick with.

Dajaku may not be good enough

There was a lot of excitement when Sunderland made a late double swoop in the summer transfer window to bring in German duo Ron-Thorben Hoffmann and Leon Dajaku.

Hoffmann has become the first-choice in-between the sticks but it's been tougher for Dajaku to make an impact but with Aiden McGeady now out for months he may start to get more opportunities.

He probably didn't expect to be playing at wing-back though and in an unfamiliar role he was one of the players who did not do too well in the system.

Dajaku deserves more chances in an attacking role but some Sunderland fans are already writing him off after struggling yesterday and they could potentially have a point.