Sunderland beat Fulham as Wilson Isidor strikes late

Wilson Isidor came off the bench to score the only goal as Sunderland beat Fulham 1-0 at the Stadium of Light and claimed their first win of the season. The forward had already hit the post from a glorious chance on 71 minutes. Four minutes later, he finished a similar opening after Habib Diarra supplied the cross.

Sunderland's bench settled the match

The decisive move came after Sunderland vs Fulham had drifted into a flat spell. Diarra's delivery reached Isidor after the home side had turned to their bench, and [Regis Le Bris], quoted by skysports.com, said: "It eventually took the changes from Regis Le Bris to settle the result." That fit the pattern of the game. Sunderland looked livelier after the substitutions, and Fulham were left chasing a match that had been slipping away.

Isidor's afternoon was a mixed one. He was brought off the bench midway through the second half and, as reported by standard.co.uk, "rattled the post when it was easier to score before converting a similar chance with 15 minutes left at the Stadium of Light." It was his first goal of the season, taking him to 1 goal in 3 appearances and 188 minutes across all competitions. His all-comps rating of 6.77 is modest enough, but the finish gave Sunderland exactly what they needed.

Fulham's bright moments went unrewarded

Joshua King had a couple of first-half chances for Fulham, but they did not force the issue often enough. Bernd Leno also came haring out and missed his attempt to cut out the cross before Isidor scored. The visitors had their moments, just not the clean chance they needed once Sunderland found a foothold.

The result leaves Sunderland with some momentum after a start that had not given them much to celebrate. Their last five league results now show 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat, while Fulham's recent run stands at 3 defeats, 1 draw and 1 win. The next league fixture will tell us more about whether Isidor's goal is a one-off impact or the start of a bigger role off the bench.