Despite almost eight thousand Barrow fans descending on Wearside hoping for a giant killing a Fraizer Campbell double booked Sunderland’s place in the fourth round of the FA Cup as the lads put in a professional performance to beat Barrow three nil. Steed Malbranque put us ahead in the first half and had it not been for the Barrow keeper we should have scored more and Campbell probably would have left the SOL with the match ball.

It had been in the press all week that Steve Bruce would start the side that drew with Blackburn and that surprised me as even with the injury crisis I thought it would be a mistake to risk Bent, Cana etc against a team that the reserves should be capable of beating. However true to his word Brucie named a strong side with the only change being Malbranque in for Nosworthy as Cana dropped to centre half to partner Da Silva.

The pitch was decent given the recent weather but the surface was wet which did affect the bounce of the ball in front of the tunnel. Barrow started out full of energy and every time they got into our half their large travelling support went wild although when we passed the ball quickly it was obvious we had too much for them.

However they did have the first decent effort of the game from a free kick which Fulop had to get down to parry out for a corner. We huffed and puffed and finally took the lead after fifteen minutes thanks to Steed Malbranque’s crisp left foot finish. It came after a good move down the left hand side between Murphy and McCartney before Campbell cleverly back heeled the ball into the path of the Frenchman.

The Barrow boys put everything they had into the game and this resulted in a few late and mistimed tackles which the ref let go. Fair enough I thought until McCartney and Cana were booked for tackles which weren’t as bad as anything from Barrow. Meyler seemed to revel in the battle and put in a few good tackles and blocks which Cana would have been proud of.

That was about it for the first half Cana made a lung bursting run from centre half which was canny but the keeper came out to stop him and then Henderson went close with a left footed shot from outside the box.

After the break Barrow began to tire and Sunderland pressed forward and eventually doubled the lead following a handball by the Barrow left back after he had tackled Malbranque. Murphy whipped the free kick into the six yard box and Campbell was on hand to nod in. Campbell made it three with half an hour to go with another header this time from Bardsley’s cross.

But for the heroics of the Barrow keeper we could and probably should have scored more but he was on hand to make some good saves from Campbell, Henderson and Bent. The save from Bent was the pick of the bunch as he tipped the strikers shot onto the cross bar from close range.

With our place in the fourth round booked young Ryan Noble came on for Bent and looked lively. He got into a couple of good positions but in injury time he almost grabbed a beauty when he curled a shot just wide of the post after cutting in from the left wing and beating two defenders.

Final Score: Sunderland 3 Barrow 0

ALS Man of the Match: Fraizer Campbell

Aidan Crowe

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