Rovers condemn Cats to third straight loss

SUNDERLAND slumped to their third successive defeat as Tyrhys Dolan kept alive Blackburn's chances of making the Championship play-offs with a hard-earned win at the Stadium of Light.

- By DAMIAN SPELLMAN, PA

On an afternoon when results elsewhere meant the Black Cats secured fourth place, Dolan's 33rd-minute strike was enough to clinch a 1-0 victory and a third on the trot for Valerien Ismael's side.

By contrast, Regis Le Bris' men have lost their last three games and have collected just one of the last 12 points on offer, hardly the kind of form they would want to take into the play-offs.

Le Bris made seven changes to the side that lost 2-1 at Bristol City on Good Friday, one of them to replace the suspended Trai Hume following his red card.