It's a canny trek down to the Midlands but, fortunately, following the 2-2 draw against Birmingham last week, there was plenty to talk about. Signings of the "mouthwatering" variety, our disciplinary record, Captain Catts, Mensah's latest injury and the state of our defence were to the fore, as were the chilling thoughts of another away defeat to a side tipped for relegation.
 
Memories of that abysmal 3-0 drubbing two seasons ago at the hands of the Premier League’s whipping boys was still fresh in the memory, but overall, our recent record at the Hawthorns is a bit of a mixed bag: won two, drawn two, lost two.
 
After losing Cattermole and Mensah to suspension and injury respectively, Steve Bruce was forced to shuffle the pack, bringing in Paraguayans Cristian Riveros and Paulo da Silva, while Darren Bent was handed the captain’s armband.
 
West Brom, looking to bounce back from their 6-0 hammering at Chelsea on the opening day, had the better of a competitive first half. Peter Odemwingie, a signing from Lokomotiv Moscow on Friday, should have opened the scoring but put his shot wide after being slid in by the excellent Chris Brunt.
 
The Baggies continued to press forward with James Morrison chesting down a failed clearance and sending a volley wide of goal.
 
At the other end Darren Bent looked to have beaten the offside trap, only for the referee's assistant to raise his flag as the England striker fired at Scott Carson.
 
Sunderland then won a free-kick just outside the box, but Kieran Richardson fired over the bar. Moments later, the Lads were awarded another free kick after Riveros was scythed down but Bent struck his shot straight into the West Brom wall.
 
Jerome Thomas started cause problems down Sunderland's right and almost took advantage of an error by Simon Mignolet, who looked like a rabbit in headlights and went down like Bambi on ice, but there was no-one in the middle to take advantage of the open goal.
 
Thomas was involved again soon after, delivering a cross that Brunt met with a superb overhead kick that went over.
 
Basically, the first half was shite as our midfield time and again gave the ball away and defence resorted to hoofing the ball upfront for Kenwyne Jo - oh wait - Darren Bent and Fraizer Campbell to run hopelessly on to. Sound like déjà vu?
 
Any hope for better in the second half faded as West Brom started as they had in the first, Mignolet - who actually had a decent game - saving from Brunt's header.
 
Sunderland needed a spark, and after sixty minutes, Bruce brought on Danny Welbeck and Bolo Zenden. For a while, it worked, as Richardson tested Carson from 25-yards and Zenden crossed for Onuoha who headed straight at the Baggies keeper.
 
Inevitably, though Sunderland ran out of ideas and were caught out when Odemwingie picked up Morrison's through-ball that cut through a gap in our defence as wide as the River Wear to slide a shot past Mignolet. It could have been two late on but Brunt struck the bar with a 30-yard screamer.
 
The Lads finally began to pile on the pressure, forcing a series of corners but Henderson and then Waghorn failed to clear the first man. Really, it isn't that hard is it? I mean, we get plenty of height on the thing when it's hoofed aimlessly upfield don't we?
 
Anyway, I digress. Sunderland's failings have been shown up within 180 minutes of football. Hopefully this defeat and performance will jolt Ellis Short into stumping up the cash for that "mouthwatering signing" which will probably turn out to be Emile bloody Heskey.

Make no mistake about it we were shite today against a poor team. Sort it Bruce...
 
Final Score: 0-1

ALS Man of the Match: Chris Brunt

Chris Fryatt

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