-
Sunderland 2-2 Westbrom: Morrison, Long, Bendtner,Al-Muhamadi great-finish
Sunderland scored two goals in two minutes to salvage a 2-2 draw against West Brom at the Stadium of Light, Saturday 01/10/2011.
West Brom took the lead in the fourth minute when James Morrison out-jumped Wes Brown to flick in Chris Brunt's free-kick. Shane Long made it 2-0 just 69 seconds later, finishing coolly beyond Simon Mignolet.
Sunderland clawed a goal back through Nicklas Bendtner, who collected Sebastian Larsson's neat flick to finish beyond Ben Foster. Bendtner then turned provider, crossing for Ahmed Elmohamady, who glanced a header inside the far post.
After the thrills and spills of the first 45 minutes, an anticlimactic second half saw the points shared.
Sunderland started the stronger but it was West Brom, who are undefeated in four matches against the Black Cats, who took the lead against the run of play.
Latching onto Brunt's pinpoint delivery into the box, Morrison leapt above Brown to steer his header beyond Mignolet.
Sunderland were two goals down just over a minute later. A mix-up in midfield saw the ball break loose to Long, who kept his head to slot the ball under the goalkeeper.
The home side, visibly shocked by their woeful start, struggled to string two passes together as the home fans made their displeasure heard.
Morrison and Long had opportunities to score a third but Sunderland survived, mainly thanks to the interventions of Brown.
Stephane Sessegnon was the home side's main source of creativity and he picked out Larsson, who tucked the ball into the net from close-range - only to be flagged offside.
But Sunderland were not to be denied a few minutes later. Sessegnon drove forward and found Larsson, who rolled a delightful back-heel into the path of Bendtner, who slammed his shot home courtesy of a slight deflection.
Just as West Brom had scored twice in quick succession, Sunderland netted again within two minutes.
Bendtner collected the ball on the left wing and spotted the steaming run of Elmohamady, who flicked his header inside the far post.
With both managers eager to keep things tight in the second half, the sides were reduced to half chances.
Brown failed to make a clean contact with his header after Larsson had picked him out at the far post and Elmohamady fired straight at Foster after Sessegnon had led a pacy Sunderland counter-attack.
The game should have seen Sunderland reduced to 10 men when Lee Cattermole, already on a yellow card, escaped a second caution after clattering into Steven Reid.
The home side shaded the second half but Roy Hodgson will feel these are two points thrown away after their impressive start.
Michael Da Silva
Source: Eurosport
TEAM LINE-UP:
SUNDERLAND: Mignolet, O'Shea, Brown, Turner, Richardson, Elmohamady, Gardner, Cattermole, Larsson, Sessegnon, Bendtner. Subs: Westwood, Colback, Ji, Meyler, McClean, Cook, Laing.
WEST BROM: Foster, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Shorey, Brunt, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Morrison, Odemwingie, Long. Subs: Fulop, Tchoyi, Thomas, Jones, Tamas, Cox, Scharner.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments: