OPPO: West Ham
VENUE: Stadium of Light
RESULT: Sunderland 2 (Kyle, Whitley) West Ham 0
TEAM: Poom, Breen, Babb, McCartney, Wright, Thornton (Williams 86), Thirlwell, Oster (Piper 79), Whitley, Kyle, Smith (Byfield 79).
SUBS NOT USED:.Ingham, K Cooper
BACK IN BLACK: Richard Beeby (Northants)
ATTENDANCE: 29,533
MCCARTHY’S COMMENTS
“It wasn’t pretty but the two teams were desperate for the points. Goals change games and having got them I think we deserved the victory.
“I am delighted for Jeff Whitley. It was disappointing for all of us when he got sent off in midweek but he earned his goal and he showed his commitment by forcing the ball home with a block tackle on their goal-line.
“West Ham are in a play-off spot so it was important that we got a win, especially after Preston. It was nice to beat a team above us but I thought it was a game for us to win.
“I don’t give a fiddle how we got the points. We’ve played teams off the park here and haven’t won. There weren’t many nice pretty patterns and there wasn’t much flowing football but for me that’s a great Saturday afternoon. It’s a nicer place to come to work, that’s for sure.”
The Wearsiders started the brighter with goalscorer Kyle giving his countryman Christian Dailly problems from the off.
Pardew’s men went into it on the back of a 5-0 win over Wimbledon, but they were disappointing.
Sunderland’s policy of looking for Kyle’s head did not work in the first half as time after time the Scot’s flick-ons landed no-where.
Kyle finally broke the deadlock in the 60th minute to bring the Stadium of Light to life. McCartney’s free-kick from just inside the Hammers’ half was helped on by Thirlwell and Smith before Kyle poked out a leg to steer it past Bywater.
Kyle turned goal saver in the 70th when Michael Carrick’s shot looked to be going in until the tough Scot threw himself into a block.
This was not the Black Cats at their best.
For an hour yesterday Sunderland were as clueless as West Ham in a contest of Inspector Clouseau-class incompetence.
At least Wright’s tackle on Etherington relieved the tedium.
It took 27 minutes for the first opening to materialise and, even then, Joel McAnuff’s volley was comfortably gathered by Mart Poom.
On the balmiest Wearside Saturday afternoon of 2004 it was possible to believe a corner has finally been turned.
On the first-half evidence at least, a casual spectator could have been forgiven for assuming this was a first division relegation scrap rather than a promotion tussle.
Badly missing Julio Arca, Sunderland were reliant on poorly executed set pieces and did not threaten until Jeff Whitley sent an opportunistic 45th-minute cross-shot across the face of goal.
Whitley was fortunate to still be involved after escaping with just a booking in the wake of a nasty challenge on Matthew Etherington.
Gary Breen proved similarly effective at the other end, generally rendering Bobby Zamora invisible.
Not for the first time, the pick of McCarthy’s defence was George McCartney. The young left-back’s pace and poise suggested that he is probably one of only a handful of Sunderland’s current squad capable of cutting it at Premiership level.
It was McCartney’s long free kick which prefaced Sunderland, evidently believers in economy of effort, scoring with their second attempt.
Dailly proved powerless to prevent Whitley scoring Sunderland’s second.
A play-off place is a more realistic ambition for two teams who, on this evidence, would have to make major changes to survive in the top flight.
The tedium of the first-half, in particular, provoked only bewilderment that this would have been a Premiership encounter just a year ago.
Sunderland were devoid of constructive ideas.
Sunderland’s poor passing ensured they had to wait until stoppage time before carving out a clear opportunity.
The second-half was marginally better, although guile, invention and ingenuity were still rare commodities.
Paul Thirlwell illustrated why he is yet to score a league goal as he sliced a 52nd minute shot horribly wide.
A mistake by McCartney almost presented West Ham with an equaliser, but Wright’s excellent clearance under the bar rescued the full-back.
Sunderland finally sealed their victory in the 75th minute through when Jeff Whitley began and ended one of the better moves of the game.
