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All square again at ground zero
Steed Malbranque tangles with Michel Salgado
THIS game was Sunderland’s 350th in the Premier League though it’s a landmark which will not live long in the memory.
Nor would anyone have expected it to.
After all, this was Blackburn Rovers by night: Ewood Park in driving October rain.
And few are more aware than Sunderland’s travelling fans that this thankless pilgrimage is more about chills than thrills; a game to be endured rather than enjoyed.
Seven of the last 10 meetings between the two sides had been won by a single goal, (the other three were draws), and in a meeting of two of the least prolific sides in the division, a goal fest never looked on the cards.
So it proved, though Sunderland could at least take consolation from the fact that they were the livelier of the two sides and created comfortably the better chances.
Steve Bruce made only one change to the side which drew with Manchester United on its last outing – on-loan Red Devil Danny Welbeck returning at the expense of Bolo Zenden, while Darren Bent declared himself fit to lead the line of Sunderland’s 4-5-1 formation, even though the boggy conditions were not ideal for a man recovering from a groin strain.
Torrential conditions at kick-off made the opening few minutes a lottery but it was Sunderland who settled best, first Lee Cattermole and then Phil Bardsley brought down to give the visitors free-kicks in the opening few minutes.
Sunderland dominated the early stages but Simon Mignolet was the first keeper really called in to action – the Belgian keeper tipping Morten Gamst Pedersen’s free-kick from the right athletically over his bar on the quarter-hour.
Pedersen had meant to hit the crowd of bodies 12 yards out but his delivery curled goalwards and it was one of those moments which could easily have embarrassed the Sunderland keeper but he adjusted himself well and made the save look routine, though it was anything but.
A couple of minutes earlier, man-of-the-moment Jordan Henderson picked out Bent with a slide-rule pass but, not for the only time that night, the striker was unable to provide the finish the pass deserved.
After Mignolet’s save, Sunderland survived two corners in quick succession but a greater threat came in the 17th minute when former Black Cat El-Hadji Diouf squared from the left and it needed a brilliant covering challenge from Bramble to clear the danger.
It was a good response from Rovers after a positive early showing from Sunderland.
But the home team should have fallen behind in the 24th minute to what was to prove the clearest chance of the match – a long-ball from Phil Bardsley dropping kindly for Bent and leaving him in a one-on-one with keeper Paul Robinson.
For a second it looked goal all the way, but the striker drove his shot at the England keeper from 15 yards out and Robinson, falling to his left, managed to block.
The game changed on the stroke of half-time when Rovers skipper Chris Samba failed to control a pass just outside his own area and Danny Welbeck nipped in to dispossess.
Welbeck zeroed in on goal, only to be hauled back and, after discussion with his linesman, Wiltshire referee Lee Probert made two correct decisions – Samba sent off, Sunderland awarded a free-kick in the ‘D’ even though Welbeck had managed to fall in the area.
Bardsley’s resulting shot hit the wall and Bent dragged the rebound wide in a move which typified the night.
But Sunderland would have gone into the break with high hopes of recording only their third away win in 33 attempts.
It was not to be.
And understandably so – of all the Premier League teams to be reduced to 10 men, Rovers would probably have suffered the least, given the way they play.
They simply went into defensive mode and accepted that they would have fewer opportunities of pressuring from set pieces.
Nevertheless, it looked for a while as though it was only a matter of time
before the home team would crumble as Sunderland persisted with their 4-5-1 formation.
First Malbranque and then Elmohamady produced perfect balls for Bent but both were squandered by the normally lethal frontman.
Rovers threatened rarely but Mignolet had to be at his sharpest to snuff out a goalmouth scramble in the 55th minute.
With 63 minutes gone and a stalemate developing, Steve Bruce made his inevitable move – off went right-back Nedum Onuoha and on came Asamoah Gyan as Sunderland switched to 4-4-2 and went for it.
The effect was instant – Gyan clipped a ball forward for Bent who was cleaned out by Robinson, the loose ball dropping to Malbranque whose lob towards an open goal from 25 yards narrowly missed the target.
But the siege never materialised as 10-man Blackburn – like 10-man Arsenal before them against Sunderland – suddenly found breathing space as the Wearsiders’ midfield was reduced from five to four.
This is Bruce’s real quandary: his five-man midfield makes Sunderland very difficult to beat, but the lone striker makes it very difficult for Sunderland to win games, unless Bent is in superlative form.
Sunderland upped their game in the last quarter-of-an-hour. It was an improvement which might not have been unconnected with the introduction of Zenden, who drove one vicious rising shot just wide of the target and then headed another chance straight at Robinson.
Gyan provided the tee-up for that header but the African almost made a far more telling contribution in the 83rd minute when he danced exquisitely past his marker on the left of goal before checking back and curling a right-foot shot towards the far corner.
Robinson, diving at full stretch, kept that one out and was the right man in the right place five minutes later when he gathered Bent’s goal-bound header at his feet.
It was a night when Bent’s and Sunderland’s luck was out – hopes of victory over outnumbered opponents washed away in the Lancashire deluge.
But some consolation could be taken from the fact that nine games into the new season, Sunderland have lost only once.
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Weather for Sunderland
Thursday 23 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 26 mph
Wind direction: West
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