Premier League - West Brom humble Sunderland

Eurosport - Sat, 16 May 14:33:00 2009

Sunderland sank to a 3-0 defeat against rock-bottom West Bromwich Albion to put themselves firmly back into the relegation dogfight.

FOOTBALL West Brom's Chris Brunt finishes past Sunderland's Marton Fulop in their 3-0 Premier League win at the Hawthorns - 0

A first-half strike from Jonas Olsson and goals in the second period from Chris Brunt and substitute Juan Carlos Menseguez condemned the Black Cats to a demoralising defeat which undoes much of the good work achieved in their win against fellow strugglers Hull City last week.

West Brom edged an insipid first-half which was typical of both sides' struggles this season.

Unsurprisingly, given the poor play on show, the first chance of note came thanks to a deflection when Brunt's low drive from the edge of the Sunderland box almost deceived Marton Fulop after it took a nick on the way through to the stand-in Sunderland keeper on 25 minutes.

A rare moment of quality came from Kieran Richardson ten minutes later, as the Sunderland midfielder picked the ball up in space in the middle of the pitch before unleashing a powerful, swerving shot from 25 yards out which forced Scott Carson into an agile diving save to his right.

Then came the opener as a Jonathan Greening corner from the right fell nicely for Olsson at the far post, allowing the Swede to drive the ball left-footed into the Sunderland net.

Given their perilous situation, you would have expected Ricky Sbragia's side to come raring out of the blocks in the second-half. But what came after the break was somehow even worse from Sunderland, as Tony Mowbray's doomed Baggies outplayed them with apparent ease.

Sunderland had time to waste a number of promising free-kicks in the opening exchanges of the second-half before Brunt doubled West Brom's lead on the hour mark. Marc-Antoine Fortune did well to slow the ball down wide on the right before squaring the ball perfectly for Brunt to slide the ball home from close-range.

Djibril Cisse almost brought his side back into it a couple of minutes later, but he knew very little about it as he inadvertently diverted a Teemu Tainio drive narrowly over the crossbar.

Sunderland's miserable afternoon was rounded off two minutes before time when West Brom sub Menseguez controlled nicely inside the box and shot low past Fulop to emphasise the extent of the visitors' problems.

Ben Phillips / Eurosport

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  1. Much as I like Gazza and hope he continues to make­ progress, keeping away from the booze and drugs, he has­ proved he isn't much of a judge of character over­ the years. In fact a lot of his so called mates are to­ blame for the mess he's in.

    From Bob R, on Mon 27 Apr 12:35PM

  2. Ditto Jack. Some good points made.

    From Bob R, on Mon 27 Apr 12:17PM

  3. p.s Paul Gasgoine was once talking to a friend of mine­ in a taxi,he said "Alan Shearer's a lovely­ bloke but what a boring basra+d" I'm inclined­ to agree,do boring bastar+s motivate players?that­ remains to be seen.

    From jack torrance, on Mon 27 Apr 12:15PM

  4. Yes I think Ricky has done a good job under very­ difficult circumstances,he had some big boots to­ fill.But do I think he's the man for the long­ term,then no.I berated paperboy because he was on­ Ricky's back from the off,not taking into account­ the difficulties he was facing.Although our last­ performance was woefull,I still think we'll­ maintain our premiership status (as will NUFC).See Bob­ when you're not being a total tw$t we can have a­ perfectly civilised conversation.

    From jack torrance, on Mon 27 Apr 12:13PM

  5. On the subject of Shearer. He does come across as dour­ on the TV but all those who have played with him­ comment favourably on his strong personality and good­ sense of humour. Hughton, etc, were always staying on­ until the end of the season so his lack of coaching­ experience was not going to be a problem, plus he­ brought Dowie in. If he does nothing else he got rid of­ Wise and I for one hope he stays on next season,­ chumpionship or not.

    From Bob R, on Mon 27 Apr 10:03AM

  6. Why not turn the question round Jack. You have berated­ paperboy, etc for saying Ricky S was a poor choice of­ manager. Do you still think he is the right man for the­ job?

    From Bob R, on Mon 27 Apr 9:51AM

  7. Will be interesting to see how many of the Mags come­ back on this site to take it on the chin when pompey­ put their baits up for them ha ha Cameron you­ didn't answer my question,Shearer the right­ choice?answer with your brain not your heart

    From jack torrance, on Mon 27 Apr 8:09AM

  8. oh humph

    From jack torrance, on Mon 27 Apr 7:54AM

  9. Albionnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

    From Lesley, on Sun 26 Apr 3:34PM

  10. Change of manager by 5pm Wednesday.

    From PWilson, on Sun 26 Apr 11:29AM

  11. If the mackems keep playing the way they did against­ WBA, the Toon will only need to win two of their three­ home games to stay up

    From john.connolly01, on Sun 26 Apr 11:25AM

  12. rebecca madeleine
    it's 'the boro' by the­ way and not 'Borough' - i hope your club stays­ down forever then if you're gonna be so nasty to my­ NUFC . . . . so there!

    From cameron w, on Sat 25 Apr 10:26PM

  13. haha! Come on West Brom! I hope they get out of the­ drop zone. I hope Borough, Sunderland and Newcastle go­ down. Well I don't really care about Borough or­ Sunderland, I just want Newcastle 2 go down.

    From laticsgirl, on Sat 25 Apr 10:20PM

  14. Nice one jack; at least you had the bollix to come on­ here and take your medicine.
    It's funny, all these­ mackems that suddenly appeared from nowhere, that­ crawled out of the woodwork after the Toon's defeat­ to Spurs, spouting all that nasty bile have suddenly­ gone missing again. Win, lose or draw jack, i come on­ here and take it; they just like to dish it but­ don't like to take it - that makes them weak in my­ book.
    Mind, i must give myself a wee ticking off as i­ predicted 3-1 to the home side - i must be slacking­ huh! I told you all that there will be many a twist and­ turn before season's end. And yes, good luck to The­ Cobra tonight; it'll be tough but he can do it!

    From cameron w, on Sat 25 Apr 8:37PM

  15. laugh . . . I nearly bought a season ticket

    From jack torrance, on Sat 25 Apr 8:00PM

  16. Nice comment cameron had to laugh when I read it,wine­ induced hysteria I think ha ha,never mind I'm sure­ there's worse things happened at sea today and­ we're still 5 points above your boys and not second­ off bottom.

    From jack torrance, on Sat 25 Apr 7:55PM

  17. Gotta hold my hands up and take it on the chin that was­ awfull,those two lazey,useless,overpaid wa&nkers up­ front are not fit to wear the stripes that I do with so­ much pride.Right back in the mix with the also rans of­ the premiership like NUFC,oh dear,hopefully Froch can­ win tonight to save a disastrous weekend.

    From jack torrance, on Sat 25 Apr 7:53PM

  18. I thing SAFC were unlucky to encounter a team on their­ way up, while SAFC are on their way down.
    You have to­ admire the baggies never-say-die attitude

    From Peter P, on Sat 25 Apr 7:47PM

  19. Boing Boing; Jack, i think the word of the day (amongst­ many others) has to be 'CREAMED' - Other words­ that spring to mind are: annihilated, trounced,­ hammered, crushed, humiliated, thrashed, embarrassed,­ battered, pummelled, walloped! Boing, boing, boing -­ like i said girls, safc are right in the clarts; what­ will this disastrous result do to team morale, and­ what's more . . . . . how does the 'great and­ highly experienced' manager rally his troops for­ the Toffees, ooh a very sticky fixture indeed!!
    Match­ Fact: as predicted safc got beat (by the worst team in­ the league) . . HAVE IT!
    Boing, boing, boing!!!!

    From cameron w, on Sat 25 Apr 5:38PM

  20. Good game. Well done to West Brom, worthy winners :-)

    From Bobby Robson A Legend, on Sat 25 Apr 5:37PM
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