Birmingham 1-2 Sunderland: Player Ratings as Man Utd loanee shines again

Anthony Patterson - Two terrific saves. Best keeper we've had since Mignolet? Possibly I'm getting overexcited. 8

Trai Hume - Stuck at it. Birmingham targeted our fullbacks for obvious reasons and for the most part Trai stood up to it. 7

Bailey Wright - Should have cleared the ball for Jutkiewicz's goal. He knows that. We know that. Did well aside from that. 6

Danny Batth - Solid. Solid. Solid. 8

Niall Huggins - Thrown in the deep end doesn't cover it. You could tell that he was struggling, and you could also tell that he's got a lot of quality to offer. Well done him for sticking by it and I look forward to him being phased into the team more gradually from hereon. 6

Corry Evans - Excellent. The Cardiff debacle was a reminder of Corry's importance to the side. 8

Dan Neil - I thought he was absolutely brilliant. There's never been a doubt that he's got the quality, but it's always been about turning it into a solid 90 minutes. Played an exquisite ball for Amad in the opening few minutes which didn't quite come off. His assist for the second goal was a real moment of class. There's the standard that you can set Dan, now do it consistently. 9

Amad Diallo - OK... we've got a serious player on our hands. The assist was superb. The goal was really special. As much as other players did their bit, Amad won us the game. 9

Alex Pritchard - Did what he typically does. My mate who I watched the match with, who knows virtually nothing about either Sunderland or football said "Pritchard is amazing". That's got to count for something. 7

Jack Clarke - To be honest, he wasn't very good tonight! We'll let him off though, considering his season so far. 5

Ellis Simms - Great finish for the opener. Won some 50-50s, lost others. He's a good player who we should stick with. 7

SUBS

Patrick Roberts - Unlucky to have been dropped and worked hard when he came on. 6

Elliot Embleton - Welcome legs when we needed them. 6

Jay Matete - His yellow card per minutes played stats must be through the roof. Has the makings of a real fans favourite. 6

Man of the Match - Amad - This guy might be really, really good. No disputing that he's one of the first names on the team sheet now.