Premier League - Sunderland lose at Portsmouth

Eurosport - Tue, 19 May 09:59:00 2009

Sunderland face a nervy finale to the Premier League season after Portsmouth came from behind to beat the Black Cats 3-1 at Fratton Park.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Portsmouth-Sunderland Djibril Cisse - 0

Kenwyne Jones put Ricky Sbragia's relegation-threatened side into the lead on 59 minutes, only for John Utaka to level just 120 seconds later.

Pompey took the lead seven minutes later when Phil Bardsley slid the ball into his own net - under pressure from Utaka - following a terrible error of judgement by Anton Ferdinand.

Substitute Armand Traore then sealed all three points for Pompey in the 88th minute to set up a final-day showdown that could yet see Sunderland relegated.

Victory on the south coast would have secured Sunderland's top flight status for another year but instead the result means they will head into the final day a mere point ahead of Hull and two clear of Newcastle. Safety is far from assured, especially considering their opponents at the Stadium of Light - Chelsea.

Defeat at Aston Villa would relegate Newcastle although they would survive if they draw and Hull lose at home to champions Manchester United who are set to field a weakened side as they prepare for next week's Champions League final.

West Brom are definitely down while Middlesbrough, who have 32 points, need to beat West Ham United comfortably and hope that Hull and Newcastle both lose.

Given the stakes at Fratton Park, the opening period understandably proved to be a tight affair, although both sides did manage to create chances that left the woodwork reverberating at each end.

Peter Crouch lead the way for Pompey, the England striker heading Glen Johnson's cross goalwards after just four minutes of play, only to see his effort bounce back off the upright and scrambled away to safety.

And just before half-time, Crouch's opposite number Jones jumped in between Sylvain Distin and Sol Campbell to direct a header against the post; the ball bounced back across the face of goal but, crucially, not over the line.

Pompey boss Paul Hart made a double substitution at the break, bringing on Traore and Younes Kaboul for Richard Hughes and Kanu, and the changes immediately brought dividends.

Pompey burst out of the blocks, laying siege to the Sunderland goal as the visitors struggled to get out of their own half.

So it came as a surprise when Callum Davenport broke to the other end on 59 minutes to deliver an inch-perfect cross for Jones to stab home at the far post, completely against the run of play.

Pompey were not to be deterred and it took them a mere minute-and-a-half to draw level, Utaka taking full advantage of a fortuitous rebound off Teemu Tainio to charge towards goal and finish low past Marton Fulop.

Utake whipped off his shirt and celebrated - for which he was booked - unaware that referee Mike Riley had blown his whistle moments before the Nigerian pulled the trigger. Exactly for what remained a mystery, but the goal stood.

Pompey went ahead on 68 minutes when Ferdinand misjudged a long punt downfield, allowing the ball slip under his foot and Utaka to race in on goal and round Fulop. Bardsley's attempted saving tackle merely succeeded in diverting the ball into his own net.

Credit to Sunderland - they came back looking for an equaliser. And they could have found one had stand-in keeper Asmir Begovic - making his debut in the absence of injured David James - not been alert to several situations, most notably to save from Grant Leadbitter, Djibril Cisse and Jones, twice.

But Pompey held firm and Traore make sure of the hosts' victory with a neat finish with just two minutes remaining, Utaka taking on, and beating, Ferdinand before laying off for the youngster to rifle into the far corner.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 31 - 50 of 110

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  1. No.39 - you *chose* to support Spurs?
    What. A. Numpty.

    From Sam, on Mon 18 May 11:06PM

  2. Sore Loser????Do you ever think before you print. I­ said we've been shocking and deserve to be­ relegated. Yet you like to keep your head in the­ clouds, walking in an imaginary Shearer wonderland,­ when in reality you are garbage. If for one minute you­ could stop being so biased and blinkered you would see­ that the toon are a disgrace and light years behind­ clubs that you still think you have a right to be ahead­ of, such as Spurs, Villa, Everton. I can even see you­ all saying how it will be good in the Championship as­ you will win it easy...give over do you think the likes­ of the baggies, Sheff utd or Burnley, Reading, Ipwich­ and half a dozen more are going to worry about the over­ rated passionless toon players

    From james, on Mon 18 May 11:04PM

  3. Same here i wish he would learn to spell, he must be­ inbred

    From Zoe, on Mon 18 May 11:02PM

  4. tyandmeg65
    John's right . . . you are pished!

    From cameron w, on Mon 18 May 11:02PM

  5. Re james - like all Smoggies they are more pre-occupied­ in commenting on the Toon rather than criticising the­ ineffiencies of their own team. Middlesbrough is a­ small town in Yorkshire that does not even belong to­ the North East, in fact the rest of Yorkshire do not­ want them either just ask people from Leeds and­ Sheffield.

    From Paul, on Mon 18 May 11:01PM

  6. ty and meg 65, so you live in the Toon and support­ Liverpool, glory hunter of the Ist degree, should be­ ashamed of yourself. I would rather be loyal and­ support my local team than being an imposter, get a­ life

    From Paul, on Mon 18 May 10:56PM

  7. I can remember the same situation a couple of years­ back when United fielded a weakened side against west­ ham on the last day and got beat... no doubt they will­ do the same and why not?? What do they owe any of the­ teams down at the bottom?? nothing..

    From COLIN, on Mon 18 May 10:56PM

  8. yeajoon89, I thought tyandmeg65 was a foreigner

    From john.connolly01, on Mon 18 May 10:54PM

  9. I for one are nt a glory hunter,iv supported liverpool­ for 24years, i ot dragged to nwcaslke games asa kid­ with my faqther and ws thee wen newcastle didnt ave­ support, nd yes gates were as low as 10000. socking­ man. And tht boro ladwas right, newcastle have not got­ the right to e i te league,ikno loads of ton fas an­ they think the are a big club, no they aint, thy are sh­ it. end of, get ove it, i ednjoy the lies of milwall­ playing u next season hahahahahahah

    From tyandmeg65, on Mon 18 May 10:50PM

  10. dazmanutd,
    oh yes mate!

    From cameron w, on Mon 18 May 10:47PM

  11. tyandmeg65, Your calling Newcastle fans glory hunters­ when you support bloody Liverpool? Tard.

    From rhyshall21, on Mon 18 May 10:46PM

  12. james
    nobody likes a sore loser; sour grapes, or are­ they tasting a bit bitter.
    At least if we go down,­ we''ll have an easy 6-point start from you lot!

    From cameron w, on Mon 18 May 10:46PM

  13. well said you lot mutual respect from geordies and­ mackems nice to see keep it up sorry i cant help not­ liking scousers ha ha ha plus they dont like us its all­ good hope you both stay up by the way good luck hope­ our youngsters do it for you

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Mon 18 May 10:45PM

  14. comment 28 - I'm not even English and have been­ living in this country only for 10 years but even I­ support the team close to me & whose matches­ I've been to on homeground, i.e. Tottenham. As a­ foreigner I could've easily just looked at the­ table & picked the no.1 glory hunting team at the­ time (ManU), but no, I stuck with Spurs and supported­ them through ups & downs of past decade and can now­ confidently claim that I'm a Spurs fan (there was­ even this one time I made it to WHL on a day that it­ rained so much the match got cancelled, so yeah you­ can't say I'm a fair weather fan lol). So to­ me, it's just hard to understand how anyone can­ turn their back on their hometown club, especially one­ that they've grown up going to matches. I grew up­ watching football in Munich so have been a Bayern­ Munich supporter for most of my life, but after leaving­ Germany 10 years ago I'm still checking Bayern news­ regularly!

    From Yea-Joon, on Mon 18 May 10:43PM

  15. ha ha ha bet my pal cameron w is happy with that

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Mon 18 May 10:41PM

  16. As a Boro fan i acknowledge that we are doomed..and­ rightly so because we have been shocking all season. I­ just hope the cocky big headed geordies come down with­ us. The reaction after last weeks win over us was­ crazy. We couldnt beat an egg at the moment yet you­ would have thought the toon had beaten Man Utd,­ Chelsea, Liverpool...et al all rooled into one. And the­ bump that they landed back down to earth against Fulham­ was a very big bump. People on here are saying Man Utd­ should field a full strength team at Hull!!! WHY???­ What do they owe Newcastle. Can you seriously say that­ if Newcastle were a few days later playing in the­ champions league final, that you would be happy to see­ them risk injury to your top stars just to win a match­ in a league that you already won??? Give over United­ should and will send out their best players that arent­ going to Rome, every club would do the same. The Toon­ like the Boro are in the position they are in because­ they have been rubbish all season, and defeats at the­ hands of Villa and West Ham will see us both relegated,­ making the Hull-Man utd result immaterial. No club has­ a divine right to premiership football, so regardless­ of where the geordies think they belong they had better­ get used to life in the Championship.

    From james, on Mon 18 May 10:40PM

  17. Hopefully Newcastle will go down...they seem to believe­ they have a god given right to play in the­ premership..they are not good enough. Villa are not­ great at the moment but last game at home, they­ won't lose..i fancy Hull to get a point against­ Utd..Newcastle down..!! Away the lads..to the­ championship..!!

    From Alan B, on Mon 18 May 10:37PM

  18. tyandmeg65, are you pis*ed

    From john.connolly01, on Mon 18 May 10:37PM

  19. Hopefully Newcastle will go down...they seem to believe­ they have a god given right to play in the­ premership..they are not good enough. Villa are not­ great at the moment but last game at home, they­ won't lose..i fancy Hull to get a point against­ Utd..Newcastle down..!! Away the lads..to the­ championship..!!

    From Alan B, on Mon 18 May 10:35PM

  20. Ha Ha You cant spell LED

    From Dave M, on Mon 18 May 10:33PM
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