Bolton 0 Sunderland 1: Darren Bent makes dream start for Bruce's boys

16 August 2009 00:16
Pride swelled in Steve Bruce's barrel chest. Darren Bent, his £12million signing, had scored the winner, three points were in the bag and 5,500 supporters hung around in the rain to salute a memorable win. Bent, signed from Tottenham, was the game's instant hero. His moment came in the fifth minute when he drifted deep to the far post and hung in the air as he met Steed Malbranque's cross from the left. Bolton never recovered. They were sluggish and frequently gave the ball away as Sunderland adhered to Bruce's midweek mantra - stand up to them, refuse them and inch, meet them with fire. It worked. Indeed, Sunderland could have had two or three more goals in a dominant first half when Bent and Kenwyne Jones looked formidable. Bolton restricted them to one goal because of the sheer class of their goalkeeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen. One of his many strengths is his sense of anticipation. It was perfectly illustrated as Kieran Richardson burst through a shoddy defence and looked certain to score. He went to pick his spot but Jaaskelainen was in front of him, gathering the ball as he did when others, notably Jones and Bent, threatened. But his team-mates could not find the equaliser when they began to get into the game in the second half. Bolton swarmed in response to manager Gary Megson's call for more effort. At half-time he demanded they match Sunderland in every area and there were occasions when they threatened to equalise. Their best efforts came too late and found in Sunderland's Martin Fulop a goalkeeper almost as good as their own. He was merely in the way when Gary Cahill powered a header into his chest but there was more than luck involved in his save in time added on. Sunderland were hanging on against a rushtide of Bolton attacking when, with a mixture of skill and luck, he kept Sean Davis out. No one could doubt that Sunderland deserved their win and Bruce was delighted with Bent, one offour newcomers. 'He has appetite and workrate and that's why we brought him in,' said the visiting manager. 'It's a great start for him. I thought we were outstanding in the first half but in the second we had to dig in a bit.' Megson introduced his South Korean youngster,Chung-Young Lee, late in the game. His first touch should have been ascoring opportunity but he fell over the ball. But when he went on abrave, weaving run he received a standing ovation. 'It was a fantastic header from Bent but our defending wasn't good,' said Megson.

Source: Daily_Mail