After last weekends defeat away to Chelsea Keane made three changes, bringing in Dwight Yorke, Anthony Stokes and somewhat surprisingly Daryl Murphy. Aston Vila were never going to be an easy game and if I’m being honest, I expected to come out of the Stadium of Light after suffering a defeat.
Villa were lucky to still have 11 men on the field after a horrific challenge from Craig Gardner left Yorke in a heap in the early stages. Gardner arrived late and high on Yorke, studding the midfielder in the stomach. Perhaps this was an early sign of things to come from the inept referee. Despite this early set back we started well and with a good tempo to the game. In unusual Sunderland fashion we took the lead after only 10 minutes. Ross Wallace whipped in a sublime corner which was met and comfortably headed home from Danny Higginbotham. Now we had something to hold on to and as expected Villa commanded much of the first half, though without creating any real chances.
Though it wasn’t all one way traffic and it looked as though Anthony Stokes had given us a cushion of a second goal after some good work from Kenwyne Jones, who saw his effort saved and bounce out to Wallace whose shot was blocked. Stokes was on hand to head the ball into an empty net, only to be ruled out for offside. Jones again was involved in some terrific play, turning Knight superbly in the box and making Carson pull off a good close range save. Then came some stupidity from the referee, a certain Steve Bennett, who allowed both the Sunderland and Villa players to get into position for the corner, then blew his whistle just as Wallace was about to take it.
Half Time: 1-0
Aston Villa again were in control for the vast majority of the second half, but just like in the first Ward wasn’t bombarded with shot after shot. Though Ward’s failure to collect a cross, which appeared simple, almost gifted Villa with an equaliser, thankfully Higginbotham was on hand to clear Carew’s shot off the line. Villa were awarded a free kick in a very dangerous position after McShane’s late challenge on Villa winger Shaun Maloney. Once Maloney stepped up for the free kick there was only one place it was going to go, though this was helped by Ward taking two steps over so he was behind his wall and thus losing sight of the ball. Maloney sublimely curled the ball into Ward’s top right corner.
In typical Sunderland fashion we began to take more control of the game in the late stages and then came the absolutely disgraceful decision from the referee. Danny Collins met Grant Leadbitter’s in swinging corner from the left and headed the ball home. Cue ecstasy around the ground, only for the referee to rule the goal out for no clear reason. I’m sure he’ll get a nice warm welcome the next to he referees a Sunderland game.
Full Time: 1-1
Attendance: 43,248
MOTM: Danny Collins, he was solid throughout the game and was unfortunate not to get his goal.