By David Lee Wheatley
Di Canio effect taking hold
Paolo Di Canio strode out to the centre circle at the Stadium of Light at yesterday's final whistle to the acclaim of the thronged masses in attendance as Sunderland battled their way to a second win in a row with victory over European hopefuls Everton.
The home side, roared on by 44,500 fans, showed great purpose and belief to record a 1-0 win over David Moyes' Toffees and in doing so put to bed a hoodoo the Merseysiders had held over the Black Cats for many a year.
Sunderland had failed to record a victory over their opponents in 19 attempts, but with a pumped-up Di Canio barking instructions and gesticulating furiously on the sidelines, Stéphane Sessègnon struck just before half-time with a low strike into the bottom left-hand corner of the net that Tim Howard could only get fingertips to as it flew by him.
It set up a strong platform for the red-and-white army to work from into a second half that saw every player defend wonderfully well against the possession-hogging visitors.
Despite Sunderland having to dig deep at times, Everton failed to create many clear sights of goal, only really troubling Mignolet with
a deflected effort that squirmed out of his grasp and almost went through his legs!
The home side's constant pressing and harrassment of Everton was a real boost for the fans to behold as their heroes chased down everything and managed to set off several counter-attacks, Adam Johnson almost scoring a second when bearing down on goal one-on-one with Howard only for the American to make a smart save with his feet.
In one crazy episode, Larsson whacked a high back-pass towards his goalkeeper from the halfway line. It was a ludicrous moment, forcing Mignolet to catch the ball in his area. A yellow card was brandished to the keeper for deliberate handball and an indirect free-kick awarded just yards from goal. Luckily for Larsson and Sunderland, the defence scrambled it clear after two last-ditch blocks.
The atmosphere inside the stadium was probably the loudest and most jovial it's been all season after last week's win at Newcastle and they definitely helped the players to carry on fighting until the last-minute of the match.
In the end, a deserved hug and pat on the back from Di Canio for every Sunderland player, with special attention paid to goalscorer Sessègnon, whose beaming smile said it all.
The fans largely stuck around after clapping the players from the field, knowing that Paolo was set for one last hurrah of the day. The confident Italian bounded on to the pitch arms aloft to salute every supporter and to say once more, 'we are staying up'.
Twitter: davewh1980
No comments:
Post a Comment