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  • Whitehead (82)
  • Elano (79 pen), Vassell (87)
  • Date:2008-04-12
  • Kick-off:15:00
  • Venue:Stadium of Light
  • Attendance:46797
  • Referee:Riley, M

Live Commentary

94mins

The final whistle goes on a dramatic game here at the Stadium of Light. Elano gave City the lead but moments later Whitehead equalled with a wonderstrike. Minutes later once again Vassell pokes home to clinch all three points for City.

92mins

Carlos Edwards almost capitalising on a weak back header but Hart comes out well to gather before Edwards. Good keeping.

89mins

Benjani should have made it three after Petrov's free-kick is spilled by Gordon but he recovers well to complete the double save and deny Benjani.

89mins

Goalscorer Elano comes off and takes his time doing it to be replaced by Hamann.

87mins

Elano finds Vassell who beats Nosworthy and toe pokes it goalbound past Craig Gordon and it just creeps over the line to put City back in the lead.

85mins

What a finish to this game we have on our hands now. The home fans are really buzzing and trying to will Sunderland to a fourth consecutive win.

82mins

Sturrindge went down injured and was replaced by Darius Vassell.

82mins

Corner for City, breaks for Elano just six yards from goal but he somehow manages to blast it high over the bar. Would of bet your house on him scoring there! It's all going on in the last few minutes.

81mins

Andy Reid crosses the ball in from the left hand side, whipping it in to Dean Whitehead who meets it on the volley and rifles it home. What a goal!

78mins

Roy O'Donovan comes on to replace Chopra as Roy Keane looks to chase the game.

78mins

Nosworthy was booked there for his foul to give away the penalty.

78mins

Elano steps up confidently to take the penalty and fires it home wrong footing Craig Gordon - Against the run of play but City won't care.

77mins

Dan Sturridge wins a penalty cutting inside and goes down under the challenge of Nosworthy - spot-kick given by Mike Riley.

74mins

Benjani works a good position for Petrov to shoot but it is truly awful and goes well wide of Craig Gordon's goal - Embarrassing moment for the Bulgarian.

73mins

Leadbitter hits the free-kick a little too straight and Hart takes it into his arms comfortably.

73mins

Vedran Corluka goes into the book for a fairly cynical foul on Chopra who had got in behind Sun Jihai.

71mins

Johnson gets City's first sight of goal in the second half but as he controlled in a dangerous area Bardsley slid across to make a great saving tackle.

70mins

Reid pings a beautiful sweeping pass upfield to Jones to spring a Sunderland attack, but as so often today, the play slows down as they get closer to goal and City re-group to clear.

67mins

Great play from Bardsley pressing Petrov high up the pitch to win Sunderland their sixth corner - Cleared comfortably.

65mins

Craig Gordon must be falling asleep in goal - The visitors are yet to threaten by any means.

62mins

The Trinidad and Tobagon international Carlos Edwards comes on for Darryl Murphy. Perhaps the fresh legs on the wing can cause Dunne and co. some problems.

61mins

Reid delivers the corner with pace and bend, Jones attacks it but his header passes a fraction wide of the base of the post.

60mins

Long ball into Kenwyne Jones who knocks it down to Murphy on the edge of the box and his shot is deflected behind for a corner.

59mins

Swift break from Sunderland through Chopra but as they get into the final third, the wrong ball is chosen by Murphy and the attack loses all it's pace and it is dealt with by City.

58mins

The 18 year-old Dan Sturridge comes on to replace Stephen Ireland. The fresh legs may cause the Sunderland defense some problems as they tire.

55mins

Murphy cuts inside passing up the opportunity to cut it back for Leadbitter and as he shapes to shoot Ball gets in a strong tackle to prevent Hart being called upon.

54mins

City have only scored in two of their last seven games, and it is clear to see why today - The quality of the final ball isn't good enough.

51mins

Micheal Chopra wins the ball on the byline and his perseverance earns them a corner - The ball from Reid goes just over the leaping Collins and out for a goal kick.

49mins

Best opportunity of the game for Murphy, a promising move resulted in a crosss from Chopra and it fell for Murphy beautiflly but he drove it over the top.

48mins

Elano and Petrov linking up well and getting on the ball early in the second period. Sunderland won't like Elano on the ball.

46mins

The whistle is blown and the second peiod is underway.

46mins

Grant Leadbitter comes on to replace Kieran Richardson - I assume it is injury related as Richardson looked very dangerous in the opening period.

45mins

The whistle is blown to bring this rather dismal first half to a close - Things can only get better!

41mins

Free-kick for the home side in a very dangerous position about 20 yards from goal just right of centre, Reid will fancy this one - Hits Ireland, disappointing effort.

39mins

Gelson Fernandes goes into the book for a high foot on Jones on the half way line.

38mins

The game suddenly sparking into life as we approach the break - Sunderland putting some good passing moves together and City look as though they may threaten on the break.

36mins

Jonny Evans aims a cross at Jones who knocks it down for Whitehead but he couldn't quite control his volley and it bobbles just wide of the post.

35mins

Good play from Danny Collins down the left flank but his cross was straight at Hart with Jones and Murphy waiting behind him to put it home.

32mins

Good chance for Michael Chopra after Jones squared it to him, his shot was well blocked by Dunne who then headed clear the cross coming back in.

29mins

Sorry for the lack of real comment so far, this game has been very scrappy in the last few minutes.

26mins

City a little gulity of over-committing forward here, Richardson is finding space infront of him frequently here. If there is to be a goal for Sunderland it is likely to come from Richardson.

23mins

Fantastic save from Joe Hart after Sunderland broke rapidly with Richardson who threaded the ball to Jones but he couldn't quite poke it beyond the onrushing keeper.

22mins

Phil Bardsley picks up his seventh booking of the season for a tackle that was unnecessarily firm on Johnson. A fair booking.

21mins

Good goalkeeping from Jo Hart coming out of his goal quickly to gather a dangerous ball in from Whithead.

18mins

Dean Whitehead picks up a needless yellow card for a foul on Petrov as he skipped away from the Sunderland midfielder.

17mins

A half chance for Murphy as Collins flicks on a Jonny Evans cross but the ball spins away from his foot and out of play.

14mins

Neither keeper has been worked as of yet but the game has been by no means pedestrian, just a little scrappy at times. Both sides seem to have set out to win this.

12mins

Good work from Martin Petrov on the left wing and it takes a good piece of defending from Bardsley to prevent any worse than a corner being given away. City will look for Petrov as much as possible this afternoon.

9mins

A massive miskick from Dunne skewing his clearance behind for a corner which Reid delivers well and Collins was there but he couldn't find the final touch to turn it home.

6mins

Scramble defending from Sunderland as they fail to clear the ball from their area and Elano's shot was well blocked, fell for Gelson who's shot was blocked also and Gordon gathers well.

3mins

Great piece of play from Murphy lifting the pass beautifully over the defence but it skipped away off the surface from Richardson and away for a goal kick.

2mins

Kieran Richardson with the first shot of the game, it's a speculative one from 30 yards but it is struck well and goes just over the bar.

0mins

Referee Mike Riley gets this one underway.

0mins

Nedum Onuoha, City's centre half, will miss the rest of the season with injury so Corluka is likely to move into the middle with Dunne. Sun Jihai comes in at right back.

0mins

For the home side, places in the eleven for Murphy, Jones and Chopra giving this line-up a positive and attacking look to it.

0mins

Man City: Hart, Jihai, Corluka, Dunne, Ball, Gelson, Elano, Ireland, Johnson, Petrov, Mwaruwari

0mins

Sunderland: Gordon, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Evans, Collins, Chopra, Whitehead, Reid, Richardson, Jones, Murphy

0mins

For City, they are looking for a strong finish to beat out Villa and Blackburn for a chance to earn European football for next season. A win today will help them greatly with their cause.

0mins

On the back on an important win at Fulham last week, another win for Sunderland would surely see them safe from relegation.

0mins

Welcome to the Stadium of Light where Sunderland host Manchester City this afternoon.

Match Preview

Sunderland all but made certain of their Premier League survival last weekend with a 3-1 victory at Fulham, but boss Roy Keane will want his side to make sure against Manchester City.

The Black Cats had been in trouble largely due to a dreadful away record, but they have now won their last two games on the road, with a 2-1 home win over West Ham sandwiched in between.

Black Cats winger Kieran Richardson told The Chronicle: "Even when we're guaranteed Premier League football next season, no-one at this club will rest because we all want to end the season on a high.

"Everyone's summer will be a lot happier if we can finish with a strong run of results.

"We need to be showing the other clubs that we're a strong Premier League outfit and that we should be looking good for next season."

Sunderland have a few likely injury absentees, with Dwight Yorke, Dickson Etuhu and Ross Wallace all struggling with knee problems.

The Citizens travel to the Stadium of Light hoping not to let their season drift to an unsatisfactory conclusion.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's side have dropped to ninth place in the table after a run of just one victory in their last seven league games, with their European hopes all but extinguished.

However, Eriksson was remaining upbeat after the 2-0 loss to Chelsea last weekend, saying: "If you can play football like that against a top team in the Premier League, then you know you can do things.

"There are still five games to go and the important thing now is not to give up, and try to take as many points as possible. Then we will see what's happening and see where we are in the table.

"As long as Europe is possible, we have to believe it and we have to fight for it."


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Match Report

Sunderland's hopes of securing Premier League safety were dealt a blow as Manchester City gave them the Blues at the Stadium of Light.

Referee Mike Riley was the villain of the piece as he gave the visitors what looked a debatable penalty on 77 minutes.

Substitute Daniel Sturridge went down in the box with Nyron Nosworthy in close attention and Riley had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. The official also booked Nosworthy, but replays showed there was little if any contact.

Sturridge did leave the field immediately afterwards unable to continue and it was his replacement, Darius Vassell, who would deal the killer blow.

Before that though, Brazilian Elano stepped up to send Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon the wrong way and give City the lead from the spot.

The Wearsiders however, weren't about to go down without a fight and looked like they might have rescued a point minutes later.

Andy Reid reached the byline down the left flank, before whipping in a great cross for Dean Whitehead to hit a superb volley into the roof of the net from inside the 18-yard box.

The strikes brought the game to life, for in truth the whole first half and the early stages of the second had been a fairly turgid affair.

Neither side really managed to get to grips with the conditions as heavy rainfall made the pitch slick and greasy.

However, even without the downpour this was a fairly dour viewing for the crowd of 46,797.

The only real attack in the opening 45 minutes went the way of the home side, when Kenwyne Jones was denied from a brave save by Joe Hart in the City goal.

Jones looked to lift the ball into the net, but the Blues' stopper saved bravely at his feet.

After the break things continued in much the same vein, that was until the intervention of Mr Riley.

The man in the middle was over-officious all afternoon and did little to endear himself to the home fans.

And as if pointing to the spot wasn't bad enough he had a hand in City's winner.

Sunderland lost possession in the middle of the park in the 83rd minute and substitute Grant Leadbitter slid to win it back.

However, his route to the ball was blocked by the body of Riley, who was standing in his way. City broke and the ball fell to Vassell. Then to add insult to injury, he scuffed his shot and the ball trickled into the net.

It was one of those days for the home side, but really they should have punished City when they had them on the back foot.

The fact that they didn't and Mr Riley's spot of bother means Roy Keane will have to wait to ensure Premier League safety.

Sunderland

Manchester City

Corners

62

Fouls

1312

Goal attempts

128

Shots off target

52

Offsides

33

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