Another fantastic performance against one of the top sides in Europe side but this time a result the lads deserved. An early goal from Darren Bent was enough to see off Liverpool at the SOL on Saturday afternoon as the lads beat Liverpool 1-0.

Before the game the headlines were dominated by Torres and Gerard’s injuries and also Brucie’s decision to give Beckham the man of the match award on Wednesday. Football legend Stan Collymore took exception to this and decided to criticise Bruce for his choice. However, having hardly watched much of the England game I wasn’t really in a position to comment although I did hear Collymore was due at the SOL to cover the game for Talk Sport.

With the match sold out it took ages to get in and fortunately I just managed to get in just in time for England’s most in form striker to give us the lead. Bent got the ball unmarked at the back post and volleyed past Reina courtesy of a Coca Cola beach ball the Scouser's must have pinched off some Mags on the trip up.

We were slightly on the back foot for the remainder of the half but to be fair we restricted the chances for Liverpool and we did look dangerous on the break. Aurillo fired a free kick wide and Spearing sent another long range effort wide. Our best chance to double the lead came when Bardsley crossed for Bent but his glancing header was just off the target.

At half time I saw motor mouth Stan Collymore in the press box analysing the game and I wondered what he thought of Steve Bruce now. More importantly at the break Sunderland made their first change with George McCartney making way for Jordan Henderson. Obviously another injury for George and we were forced into a defensive reshuffle as Cana dropped to centre half with Anton Ferdinand moving to left back.

Midway through the second half Lee Cattermole also had to go off injured as did Kenwyne Jones. Both got stretchered off to the disapproval of Liverpool skipper Jamie Carragher who put in a performance I would have been embarrassed of at five a side on a Thursday night. He was simply awful, bad tackles, poor passing and an example of how certain footballers get over praised for being English and playing for their home town clubs.

Bolo Zenden made his debut for the lads in place of Cattermole whilst Campbell replaced Jones. Campbell did well winning a few free kicks which Benitez took an exception to and gestured that he was diving. The Liverpool manager and Brucie almost came to blows over this as later did Sammy Lee and Eric Black after the Sunderland assistant laughed at Lee who was nutmegged by a ball boy. OK maybe I made this up but Lee and Black had words after the ball boy took his time giving the ball back for a throw in.

Getting back to the game we almost doubled our lead when Bent rounded the keeper but his shot was eventually well saved. Henderson volleyed wide from distance and Bent almost got in again though Liverpool were camped in our half for much of the second half.

Liverpool continued to press as we all wondered how much added time there would be. The fourth official didn’t disappoint with an amazing seven minutes signalled. Despite a few dangerous balls into the box we hung on for a great win thanks to some heroic defending from Lorik Cana.

After the game as I nipped into the bogs I had my second encounter with Stan C as he also needed to relieve himself after the ninety seven minutes. I did shout “this is not a car park” at him but according to my mate the lay-by at Seaham isn’t really missing out on much. Sadly for me this great win will always be remembered as the day my mate looked at Stan Collymore’s penis but never the less a great result.

Final Score: Sunderland 1 Liverpool 0

ALS Man of the Match: Lorik Cana, by a mile

Aidan Crowe

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