Premier League - Sunderland sink Hull

Eurosport - Sat, 18 Apr 19:33:00 2009

Sunderland put daylight between themselves and the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over Hull City at the Stadium of Light.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Sunderland v Hull City - Stadium of Light Sunderland's Djibril Cisse celebrates scoring the opening goal of the game - 0

Djibril Cisse scored the only goal of the game deep into injury time at the end of the first half, glancing home a Danny Collins flick on at the far post.

Two volleys past the post from George Boateng and a header wide from Caleb Folan were the best efforts Hull could muster as they failed to genuinely test &lsquokeeper Craig Gordon all afternoon, and they even received a let-off as Daryl Murphy smacked a left foot shot onto the post in the last attack of the game.

The result sees Sunderland leapfrog their opponents into 15th position, four points clear of the drop zone. Hull now slip to16th place.

Both sides cancelled eachother out in the early stages of a first half high on commitment but somewhat lacking in quality and incisive attacking play.

Cisse was the first to get the vocal home fans out of their seats, beating two men in a driving run at the centre of the Hull defence, before he was unceremoniously upended by Andy Dawson, while Geovanni narrowly failed to connect properly with a volley from the edge of the area at the other end.

The veteran Brazilian was at the hub of all of the visitors' best attacks, and he almost played in Manucho with a fine inswinging cross from the left wing, though the Angolan could not direct his header goalwards.

With defences prevailing and the clock ticking down it seemed we were destined to head into the break goalless, though the last attack of the half brought about the opening goal. Andy Reid whipped a pacy cross into the heart of the Hull area, and Collins managed to flick the ball on to the far post, where Cisse was on hand to head home.

Clearly buoyed by their goal, Sunderland enjoyed their best spell of the game at the start of the second half, with Cisse latching onto a Kenwyne Jones flick on, only to see his well-struck volley parried clear by Boaz Myhill.

Jones himself had the ball in the back of the net just two minutes later, though saw his close-range header justly ruled out for offside, before Cisse stung the palms of Myhill with an awkward, bouncing effort from wide on the right.

The unlikely figure of Boateng twice popped of for Hull on the edge of the area, with the Dutchman lashing right foot volleys wide on both occasions, before substitute Folan passed up his side's best chance of the game with a quarter of an hour remaining, planting a downward header just wide of the far post from Sam Ricketts's deep cross.

Despite their increasingly precarious plight Hull's late rally failed to produce any real chances of note, with Manucho's off-target header in injury-time the one exception. Murphy almost put the icing on the cake for Sunderland in the 94th minute, though his left foot effort came back off the far post, while Kieran Richardson blazed over from the rebound.

Michael FitzGerald / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 19 of 39

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  1. . . . . hull and 'the boro' can easily be­ caught.

    From cameron w, on Sat 18 Apr 8:14PM

  2. . . . . with the respective run-ins,

    From cameron w, on Sat 18 Apr 8:11PM

  3. . . . Well done sunderland and thank you;

    From cameron w, on Sat 18 Apr 8:10PM

  4. Well it's now up to Newcastle United to take­ advantage of the huge favour safc have done them with­ this victory.

    From cameron w, on Sat 18 Apr 8:10PM

  5. SUNDERLAND!

    From rhyshall21, on Sat 18 Apr 6:21PM

  6. I like sunderland and dont want to see any of the­ northern teams down.
    im a big hull fan and want them to­ do well and to stay in the top flight for another­ season.
    I think its going to be a good game and­ hopefully not like the last time we played 1-4.
    Im­ going for city to win 1-0 geo with the long over due­ goal.
    C'mon the tigers

    From G, on Fri 17 Apr 10:52AM

  7. Hull City have committed more fouls than any other side­ in the top flight - 480. Send phil Brown and his­ hatchet men down please

    From Ronsenglish, on Fri 17 Apr 2:14AM

  8. Hull City have committed more fouls than any other side­ in the top flight - 480.

    From Ronsenglish, on Fri 17 Apr 2:13AM

  9. Sorry Jack, I wrote a long response to your comment but­ it was deemed invalid. Probably a load of cobblers­ anyway.

    From PATRICK, on Thu 16 Apr 8:50PM

  10. cmon you've only got to look at Cisse's photo­ to see we are taking things seriously !!!!

    From jack torrance, on Thu 16 Apr 7:42PM

  11. Totally agree Cameron it's been more local ridicule­ than national,honestly don't think the rest of the­ country gives a rat's fu+k what happens in the NE­ why should they?Patrick I also support the­ Gunners,don't think they can be mocked really .­ .still in big competitions and will be playing­ champions League football next season (as per usual)

    From jack torrance, on Thu 16 Apr 4:11PM

  12. I'll go along with most of what you say patrick;­ but not the bit about NUFC and its fans being held to­ national ridicule all season - that is an inescapable­ fact! As for getting on the players' backs;­ don't all football fans do that? And jack, no not­ melodramatic; i see this as both sides last really­ obvious 'winnable' game. Moreso for hull, who­ as i keep saying, could realistically lose 6 out of 6.

    From cameron w, on Thu 16 Apr 9:38AM

  13. p.s none of the people on here are really scum,I work­ with scum they barely know how to open a bag of salted­ crisps and a bottle of white cider,a computer would­ honestly be beyond them,so let's mutually lay off­ the scum tag eh lads.(unless it's mal.godfrey or­ Bob R of course,because they are. ha ha)

    From jack torrance, on Thu 16 Apr 8:37AM

  14. patrick.jewel some good stuff there but you must get­ really pis+ed off when an invalid comment comes up.

    From jack torrance, on Thu 16 Apr 8:33AM

  15. Cameron post 1. was a bit melodramatic wasn't­ it?considering neither of the participants in this game­ are in the relegation zone.Think an uncomfortable 2-1­ win is a reasonable score to expect. Cry havoc and­ unleash the dogs of war Ricky my son.

    From jack torrance, on Thu 16 Apr 8:31AM

  16. Sorry, just continuing a conversation I was having with­ Cameron W a couple of days back.
    Sorry, yes Sunderland­ are the best team in the world and Newcastle are filthy­ scum. Sorry. And as for Boro...

    From PATRICK, on Wed 15 Apr 8:50PM

  17. sunderland then???

    From butchkins, on Wed 15 Apr 8:24PM

  18. Cam, three things.
    1. Are you sure this is the worst­ period you've experienced? What about all those­ dreadful games in the 70s & 80s played in front of­ a half empty, half built stadium?
    2. Why do you fear­ administration if you go down? You ain't never­ going to go out of existence.
    3. Why do you think the­ rest of the country look at you as being a joke?­ I've heard other supporters say that your heads­ drop when you go behind and that you are quick to get­ on the back of players you think aren't pulling­ their weight. But a joke? No. Ashley is a complete­ buffoon though.
    For me the joke teams in Prem at the­ moment are: Arsenal for their comical manager and squad­ of foreign players. And Man City... for obvious­ reasons.
    You should be proud of the fact that you have­ people like Shearer and Carroll (born south of the Tyne­ and therefore a Makem by the way). Could Arsenal (for­ example) find an Islington boy to manage them in the­ top flight? Could Chelsea (for example) find a striker­ born within a few miles of Stamford Bridge capable of­ scoring at the highest level?
    Despite the current­ situation for all three clubs, the NE can still be­ proud of its football, although Boro fans should be­ ashamed of themselves for not turning out. It's­ easy to get down about the three of us basically­ propping up the division... but hey, feck 'em all.­ I think we should all take a leaf out of Millwalls­ book. No one likes us, we don't care.

    From PATRICK, on Wed 15 Apr 7:54PM

  19. The loser of this game will be relegated!

    From cameron w, on Wed 15 Apr 6:09PM
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