Jack Diamond’s splash of arrogance has caught the eye of Sunderland’s Bailey Wright, with the defender hailing his Black Cats’ teammate in conversation with the Northern Echo.
It took Lee Johnson just 90 minutes to understand exactly what has gone wrong at Sunderland this season.
The Black Cats dominated 72 per cent of the possession and out-shot their visitors 16-1 during Johnson’s first game in charge on Saturday.
The result? Sunderland 0, bottom-of-the-table Wigan Athletic 1.
Speaking after the Wearside giants slipped further adrift of the play-off places, Johnson made it clear that Sunderland need to find ‘pace, power’ and a little dash of attacking unpredictability if they are to break out of their League One prison at the third time of asking (Echo).
So a devilish performance from 20-year-old Diamond could hardly have been better timed.
The Gateshead-born forward showcased exactly the kind of speed, skill and vision that Johnson was crying out for during the 2-1 EFL Trophy victory over Oldham Athletic in midweek, setting up Chris Maguire’s equaliser at Boundary Park.
“Jack, I thought was brilliant,” defender Bailey Wright said.
“You could really see him bringing out his game, he had that confidence and little bit of arrogance, which is great to see.”
Johnson himself was equally effusive about Diamond’s performance in midweek.
So don’t be surprised if the homegrown youngster is rewarded with his first league start in two months against high-flying Lincoln City on Saturday.
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