Sunderland 3 – 1 Crewe
It’s amazing how the performances of a football team, Sunderland in particular, can differ within the space of a few days. Whilst, at Coventry the team lacked any sort of creativity and failed to create even a half chance, tonight was certainly different. In what was an exciting game, Sunderland looked a changed side, creating chance after chance and, forgetting a slight mishap on the way, really controlled the game throughout.
A game against Crewe on a rainy Tuesday night is not one to draw the crowds in, but many of the 22341 hardy souls, who braved the atrocious weather, were given their first real glimpse of the summer signings and were treated to an exciting and attacking display.
McCarthy named a similar side to Saturday with only four changes being made. Steven Caldwell replaced Clark in the centre of defence whilst Kyle came in for Elliott up front. With McCartney and Poom both sidelined due to injury, Lawrence and Myhre were given their first start of the season.
Making his first start, Myhre was called into action within the first five minutes as an intercepted pass gave possible transfer target, Dean Ashton, the opportunity to do what many Sunderland fans dreaded he would do. However Myhre saved comfortably, racing out to collect the ball from the outstretched foot of Ashton.
This may have served as a wake-up call to many of the Sunderland players as within minutes, a Lawrence cross somehow fell to the feet of Carl Robinson at the edge of the box, allowing him to comfortably stroke the ball into the bottom corner past a flailing Ben Williams. A period of sustained Sunderland pressure followed this as Sunderland searched for another goal. Chances fell to Kyle, Stewart and Whitley, who spurned the best of all, missing from within the six-yard box and failing to finish off a spectacular move, which he, himself, had started.
This period of pressure seemed to end after an enthusiastic penalty shout from Marcus Stewart was turned down by Referee Eddie Evans. Only minutes later, against the run of play, a great pass from Ashton allowed Mark Rivers to slot the ball past a helpless Myhre.
However, this goal did not greatly affect the game as the second half was played out in a similar way to the first. Sunderland controlled the game and the Midfield looked very creative. The hard work from Lawrence and the strangely sublime skill of John Oster allowed lots of width to be created as crosses were being whipped into the box from both wings. Stewart missed another glorious chance after getting himself into a great position whilst Kyle finished up with an equally disappointing effort.
Stewart, though, was able to make up for his previous mistakes, when, in the 66th minute, after a good cross from Kyle, he was able to slide in at the near post and expertly place the ball into the bottom corner, a reward for his perseverance and willingness to make promising runs and get himself into good positions. Although frustrating at times, he could well be a great asset to us this season.
After that, Crewe’s heads seemed to drop as Sunderland were given bags of time on the ball, allowing them to pass the ball between both wings without any real trouble. Arca, as ever, looked a class act whilst Kyle and Stewart linked up well in attack. With 10 minutes to go, McCarthy made two substitutions within 5 minutes, bringing on Elliott and Thornton for Stewart (Or Ashton as the scoreboard led us to believe. A possible omen maybe?) and Lawrence respectively.
Elliott, who looked promising against Coventry, made an almost immediate impact, when, in the 90th minute, after a clever throw in from Stephen Wright, he was able to break away before coolly cutting inside a Crewe defender and slotting the ball home, sealing a good win and capping off an excellent performance.
Man of the Match: Liam Lawrence
Sunderland (4-4-2): Myhre; Wright, Breen, Caldwell, Arca; Lawrence, Whitley, Robinson, Oster; Stewart, Kyle. Subs: Alnwick, Thornton, Clark, Elliott, Williams.
Crewe (4-4-2): Williams, Jones, Walker, Lunt, Foster, Sorvel, Cochrane, Ashton, Vaughan, Tonkin, Rivers. Subs: Ince, Jones, Bell, Higdon, Lloyd.
Matthew Woolston (kev kyle’s left boot 16)