7:10am Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Marc Iles
Sunderland 4 Wanderers 0
IF Wanderers thought they had done enough recently to give themselves a breather from the bottom three — this result will have hit home like a hammer to the head.
Darren Bent’s hat-trick helped Sunderland to their first victory in 2010, and provided a telling reminder to Owen Coyle and his side that the spectre of relegation has not yet cleared around the Reebok.
Fraizer Campbell also got on the scoresheet for the Black Cats — and Wanderers finished the night with 10 men as Sam Ricketts became the second Reebok player to be given his marching orders in a week for picking up two yellow cards.
It leaves Coyle with a big job on his hands to pick up the squad for this weekend’s home game against Wigan.
Buoyed by back-to-back victories against Wolves and West Ham, it didn’t take long for Wanderers to come crashing back down to earth.
The ball had hardly been in the Sunderland half by the time Lorik Cana hooked a hopeful cross into the area, that was volleyed in with impressive poise by Fraizer Campbell with only 41 seconds on the clock.
It was not the kind of start you’d expect from a club who had not won in 14 games — and that might well explain why there were so many confused faces among the Whites back four as they made their way back towards the centre circle.
Sunderland showed no signs of relenting, looking particularly dangerous on the counter attack. They should have been two up after breaking with deadly efficiency from a Wanderers corner through Campbell on the left.
He switched play to Darren Bent, and while the England striker managed to get around Jaaskelainen he could only slide a shot the wrong side of the far post.
As an attacking force, Wanderers looked all at sea in the early stages, with their best chances being speculative efforts from Zat Knight and Johan Elmander early on that finished up high in the stands.
Unlike West Ham on Saturday, John Mensah and Michael Turner were dealing easily with Kevin Davies’s physical presence and in midfield, Fabrice Muamba and Ricardo Gardner were finding it difficult to supply any semblance of decent ammunition.
Otherwise, it was all Sunderland, and Jones went close to doubling the lead with a fierce left-footed drive, parried well to safety by Jaaskelainen.
Steve Bruce had been the object of home fans’ dissatisfaction up to last night, but thanks to his side’s electric start, that role was picked up by referee Steve Bennett whose every decision was met with howls of derision from the Wearside crowd.
In-between rallying against the Kent official, Black Cats fans were marvelling at the transformation their side had apparently undertaken over the last 10 days since they last lined up against Arsenal.
Another great counter just before the break saw Jones flick the ball nonchalantly wide to the overlapping Alan Hutton, whose shot from the angle whistled just wide of the post.
Wanderers made a better start to the second half, although it almost went unnoticed that Elmander had brought a decent low save out of Craig Gordon at his near post, such was the fury around the ground that referee Bennett had not given a foul against Ricketts on Hutton in the build-up.
Coyle opted to overload the right side, bringing on Vladimir Weiss to partner Gretar Steinsson and Chung-Yong Lee on that side, perhaps with the intent of exploiting Anton Ferdinand in a rather unfamiliar left-back position.
But the task of getting back into the game was made almost impossible when Steed Malbranque fed Lee Cattermole, and the former Wigan midfielder slid the ball through for Bent to check past Ricketts and then smash into the net.
Wanderers did have one excellent chance to haul themselves straight back into it when substitute Ivan Klasnic ignored Jack Wilshere on the overlap to blast a shot on the turn inches over the bar.
It was game, set and match on 74 minutes though when Bent was sent careering down the middle by Cana, to be tripped by a clumsy-looking tackle by Ricketts.
The Welshman was already on a yellow card for a rash first-half challenge on Jones – and referee Bennett had little choice but to make the first decision the Sunderland fans had agreed with all night, and send him off.
Bent drilled a low penalty past Jaaskelainen to end the game as a contest.
The big Finn did his best to prevent a fourth, making a superb save from Jones’s shot on the turn, but he could do little but scowl at his defence as they again allowed a pass to be slid through for Bent to wrap up his hat-trick late on.
It was one that will hopefully be quickly erased from the memory banks before the weekend, where a similar show could pull Wanderers right back into the mire.
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