There was some Irish involvement in Wednesday evening’s English football schedule.
Far from safe Brighton & Hove Albion went down to a three nil defeat at Chelsea in the Premier League with Shane Duffy in his customary defensive role while Greg Cunningham was on the substitute bench for Cardiff City who, still smarting from the injustices of the weekend, went down to a two nil defeat at title chasing Manchester City. Chris Hughton’s ‘Seagulls’ had the added distraction of Saturday afternoon’s FA Cup semi-final engagement with player rich Manchester City.
League One Sunderland, following the disappointment of their EFL Trophy Final defeat by Portsmouth at Wembley Stadium on Sunday last, secured a three nil victory at Accrington Stanley in a contest crucial to their hopes of promotion to the Championship. Aiden McGeady, who scored twice in the Wembley defeat, opened the scoring after just four minutes and was withdrawn at half time. Burnley loanee Jimmy Dunne was again named on the ‘Makems’ substitute bench.