After an abysmal showing from the lads against the mags last weekend it was important we got back to winning way at home to Stoke City on Saturday. Stoke are always a tough side to break down and they do possess that element of quality to unlock a defence (and I’m not just referring to Delap’s throw-in’s).

Sunderland started the game without Darren Bent who was suffering from a hamstring injury but our super Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan capitalised and started up front alongside the energetic Danny Wellbeck. Up until yesterday’s game we’d seen very little of Gyan and from the glimpses we had seen it was difficult to form a real opinion of the lad. He did of course smash in a sweet volley away at Wigan and a bullet header in the League Cup at home to West Ham so the signs of quality were there.

We began the match positively and Sunderland were rewarded with a goal after only nine minutes. With some quick and stylish interplay down the right hand side the ball was eventually crossed inside to Onuoha, his resulting shot was palmed away by goalkeeper Asmir Begovic directly into the path of the waiting Asamoah Gyan who calmly placed the ball into the back of the open net.

1-0 to the lads.

You could almost feel the tension lift within the ground and a slight air of relief followed as Sunderland pushed on for another goal.

Sunderland continued to cause Stoke problems and it wasn’t long until Gyan was making a nuscience of himself once again. Forcing his way into the box, Gyan ran towards the byline only for Jon Walters to clumsily bring him to the ground and referee Martin Atkinson swiftly awarded a penalty. At this point I was fully expecting Gyan to step up and slot in his second of the game, so when Steed Malbranque, a player who has scored one solitary goal during his time at Sunderland jogged up to the spot the chances were he was going to miss. Sure enough Steed hit a tame, Micky Gray-esque penalty into the diving hands of Stoke’s Begovic and the team from the Potteries were still very much in the game.

The second half was end to end. Stoke went extremely close when Jones managed to get on the end of an Etherington cross. Mignolet was left flapping in the Sunderland area (this happened all too often yesterday) and Jones’ header looked a certain goal but for Lee Cattermole’s quick-witted, headed/shouldered/handled clearance, fantatsic improvisation it must be said. It was a sure handball, he should have received his standard red card but the referee obviously had a Sunderland win on his coupon so fortunately for us it was waved away. I’d like to add however, a very similar incident went in Stoke’s favour only a few seasons ago at the Stadium of Light. On that occasion Rob Styles managed to miss a double handed save on the line from Danny Pugh. What goes around comes around? Apparently so.

That really was Stoke’s best chance to get back into the game and it appeared to have really dented their confidence. Sunderland continued to press on and when Danny Wellbeck was brought down outside the box after going past Ryan Shawcross, referee Atkinson deemed the challenge worthy of a second yellow card and Shawcross was given his marching orders. It was game over at this stage.

In the final moments Richardson broke forward, ran to the line and crossed a dangerous low ball into the penalty area. The cross deflected kindly to the oncoming Asamoah Gyan who smashed a clinical shot to the right of Begovic and into the back of the net. 2-0. Quality finish.

All in all a good result. Just what we needed after Sunday’s debacle.

Next up…Spurs at White Hart Lane. Come on!

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