Sunderland left it late to secure a vital three points with a 2-1 win over fellow strugglers Blackburn Rovers at the SOL on Sunday afternoon. Considering it was Martin O’Neill’s first game in charge of Sunderland Steve Kean’s side clearly hadn’t read the script and took the lead midway through the first half when Vukcevic pounced from close range. However Sunderland kept going and just when it looked like it wasn’t going to be our day David Vaughan equalised with a blistering strike before Seb Larsson won the game with a trademark injury time free kick.

Despite last Sunday’s defeat away to Wolves a wave of optimism swept over Wearside this week after Martin O’Neill took over the managerial reigns on Monday. The new manager said all the right things in his press conference and then watched the reserves destroy Manchester United on Thursday night with impressive performances from young winger James McLean and also hotshot Ryan Noble who continued his phenomenal scoring record by scoring his eleventh goal in four games. While O’Neill played down either youngster instantly breaking into the starting eleven their emergence combined with the rest of the first team being offered a clean slate to stake a first team claim fans headed to the SOL with smiles on their faces for the first time in a long while.

Blackburn headed to Wearside in turmoil despite last Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Swansea as the unrest between the fans, board and manager Steve Kean continued while the Sunday headlines suggested they were struggling financially. So on paper the game offered the perfect opportunity for Sunderland to get three points which was vital after Saturday’s results saw the lads drop into the bottom three.

With Lee Cattermole suspended and injury concerns over Nicklas Bendtner, John O’Shea and Phil Bardsley the new manager was presented with somewhat of a selection headache going into the game. Fortunately O’Shea and Bardsley shrugged off knocks and were able to start in defence ahead of Keiren Westwood alongside Wes Brown and the returning Titus Bramble. In midfield Richardson and Larsson started either side of Colback and Vaughan whilst Sessegnon played in the hole supporting Wickham who was a surprise inclusion.

We started well and got in a couple of decent crosses though Blackburn, as they would throughout the game, defended them well with Samba and Dann very strong in the air. Our first effort on goal came when Bardsley tried an ambitious volley after Larsson’s cut back but his effort skewed wide.

Blackburn took the lead inside twenty minutes from a set piece conceded by Seb Larsson. Larsson was late and high on Yakubu despite the Swede protesting that he got the ball. As was the case last Sunday Wes Brown could have defended the free kick better as he failed to clear Pedersen’s cross which eventually fell to Samba. The big defender managed to get a shot away which Westwood managed to parry but Vukcevic pounced to nod in from inside the six yard box.

Sunderland responded immediately and should have levelled minutes later when Sessegnon’s cross eventually found its way to Kieran Richardson’s feet but the man who belongs to Jesus was denied by Paul Robinson. We continued to attack with Sessegnon and Wickham both shooting wide from long range. Our build up play continued to be patient and David Vaughan cleverly ran the midfield with some slick passing and whilst we did get into some good areas and put in some decent crosses Rovers defended comfortably. Five minutes before half time Blackburn thought they had doubled their lead from another set piece although the ref penalised Samba for a foul on Westwood.

After the break we continued to press Rovers whose ultra defensive tactics are reflected in the stats which show they had three efforts on goal all game, two on target and one off target. The one off target effort came with half an hour to go when David Dunn volleyed over.

The closest we came second half was Kieran Richardson forcing Paul Robinson into action with a deflected volley before Richardson struck the post with what was actually a really poor corner. With fifteen minutes to go Martin O’Neill made a double change with Colback and Wickham making way for Ji and McLean. The young Irish winger almost made an instant impact when he skinned his man and delivered a wicked cross but it was just too high for Sessegnon. Soon after Sessegnon, who was quiet in the second half after a lively opening period, went close with an acrobatic over head kick.

With five minutes to go and time running out Sunderland equalised when Vaughan smashed the ball past Robinson from 25 yards with a stunning effort to cap a good performance in the midfield. Then in stoppage time Sunderland were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box for a handball which cut out Bardsley’s attempted pass to McLean. The free kick was in Larsson territory and the Swede who missed with a penalty from 12 yards last Sunday made no mistake from 20 yards curling the ball over the wall and in off the post. We had to wait a while to celebrate the full time whistle after a nasty injury to Blackburn’s Jason Lowe who was stretchered off but the roar which greeted the ref’s whistle was deafening.

Final Score: Sunderland 2 Blackburn Rovers 1

ALS Man of the Match: David Vaughan

Aidan Crowe

ALS T Shirts click here