Sunderland 4-0 Sheffield Wednesday: Mayenda bags brace as Black Cats crush Owls

Sunderland made it two wins from two in the new Championship season following a 4-0 rout of Sheffield Wednesday at the Stadium of Light.

Eliezer Mayenda struck twice while Dennis Cirkin and Luke O’Nien were also on target for the Black Cats, who moved up to second in the table behind early leaders Burnley.

Sunderland failed to win any of their final seven home league games at the end of last season, but Regis Le Bris’ side came flying out of the blocks and were 2-0 up inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Cirkin broke the deadlock in the 11th minute when he nodded Patrick Roberts’ free-kick home, before Mayenda pounced on Josh Windass’ loose pass to double the advantage four minutes later.

It was 3-0 in the 24th minute when O’Nien was quickest to react to Chris Rigg’s deflected shot, diverting the ball beyond Wednesday goalkeeper James Beadle.

Any faint hopes of an Owls comeback were ended as the hosts sealed the victory within two minutes of the restart, with Jack Clarke squaring the ball for Mayenda to tuck into an empty net.

3 – Sunderland have scored three goals in the opening 24 minutes of a Championship match for the first time since September 2004 against Gillingham (3-0 up after 20 minutes). Electric.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 18, 2024

Data Debrief: Sunday stroll for Sunderland as Black Cats scratch 50-year itch

Sunderland’s struggles towards the end of last season are well and truly behind them, as they continued their positive start to this term.

The Black Cats have won their opening two games of a campaign in the second tier for the first time since achieving the feat under Bob Stokoe half a century ago.

Their fast start saw them score three goals in the opening 24 minutes of a Championship game for the first time since going 3-0 up against Gillingham after just 20 minutes in September 2004.

Wednesday, meanwhile, are the first team in England’s top four tiers to start a league season with a victory by a margin of four goals or more (4-0 vs Plymouth) then lose their second game by four or more goals since Blackpool in 2010-11 (4-0 vs Wigan, 0-6 vs Arsenal).