Sunderland’s Denver Hume and Tom Flanagan were excellent at full-back against Rochdale on Saturday.
Sunderland hammered Rochdale 4-1 on their return to the Stadium of Light last weekend, a much needed result in their League One campaign.
Black Cats boss Jack Ross made the big decision to drop full-back’s Adam Matthews and Bryan Oviedo, replacing them with youngster Denver Hume and summer arrival Tom Flanagan.
And on the evidence of their performances, both Hume and Flanagan might’ve nailed down starting places for Sunderland’s next few games.
22-year-old Hume has already featured on a number of occasions this season, but struggled to get into the side with Oviedo playing so well, but once Ross gave the full-back his chance, he certainly took it once again.
The defender set up Josh Maja’s second goal of the afternoon, topping off an emphatic performance from Hume, which saw him offer arguably a lot more defensively than teammate Oviedo has this term.
Flanagan was also brilliant and despite not being an attacking right-back, the 26-year-old offered an excellent outlet going forward on the right-hand side.
Ross’s side travel to the Ricoh Arena next weekend to face Coventry City in another big game for Sunderland in what will be the tenth game of their League One campaign.
And both Hume and Flanagan have to start the match, with their defensive solidarity being something that can only benefit the Wearside team on the road this season.
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