Jermain Defoe’s stunning goal sealed Sunderland’s fifth successive win over Newcastle and lifted them three points clear of the bottom three
Jermain Defoe’s stunning goal means that Sunderland have beaten Newcastle for the fifth time in succession and, more importantly, they are three points clear of the bottom three. The trend of Sunderland managers getting their first win against Newcastle continues. Dick Advocaat will be delighted to be doing as well as Paolo Di Canio and Gus Poyet. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.
It’s over!
90 min+6: Sissoko’s shot from 25 yards is deflected over. Corner. Krul is up! Taylor hoicks it in, Pantilmon claims it, and ...
90 min+5: Newcastle mess around with the ball for a bit, never looking like they know what they’re doing, and then Perez falls over and gives it back to Sunderland.
90 min+3: Sunderland have the ball in Newcastle’s half.
90 min+1: Perez wriggles into the area from the right and goes down ... but Mike Dean isn’t about to give Newcastle a penalty for that!
90 min: There will be five minutes of added time. Advocaat is incensed.
88 min: This is Newcastle’s best chance. Taylor’s corner from the right is flicked on at the near post and Perez slams a volley just over from six yards out! “Possibly right, Mr. McCarthy,” says Mark Turner. “For drama we’re down to the debate on who gets the auto-champs league spots and who’ll have to go through the qualifying.”
87 min: Newcastle throw on Adam Armstrong in place of Sammy Ameobi.
85 min: Gomez sends the corner to the near post and Vergini’s header is clawed away by Krul. The rebound comes back to Vergini, who sends the ball into orbit.
83 min: Van Aanholt powers into the area from the left and pulls the ball back to Larsson. He looks certain to score, but Williamson deflects his shot wide! “With these two teams and Villa not in the relegation places despite being largely horrific all season, is this the worst Premier League ever?” says Martin McCarthy.
81 min: Larsson pulls Riviere back and he will miss Sunderland’s next two matches.
80 min: Adam Johnson replaces Jermain Defoe.
79 min: Perez swings a shot over from the left.
77 min: Wickham becomes the latest player to receive a booking.
75 min: A free-kick to Sunderland, 25 yards out and in a central position. Larsson takes it and bends his right-footed effort inches past the right post. I don’t think Krul would have saved it.
74 min: “Are these the worse 3hrs of football you ever had to mbm on?” asks Ricardo Silva. “At least one can look forward to palace and pardiola tomorrow night.”
This is up there, but Fulham v Sheffield United last season was probably worse. Paraguay v Venezuela in the 2011 Copa America is another contender.
72 min: Taylor wins a corner for Newcastle on the right. Can they do anything with it? That’s a stupid question, to be honest. Taylor’s corner goes out before coming back in and Sunderland are awarded a goal-kick.
70 min: They really want a second. Defoe plays a fine ball from left to right to the unmarked Fletcher, who chests the ball down, cuts back on to his left foot and whacks his shot over from 18 yards. Are these missed chances going to hurt Sunderland?
69 min: Defoe flicks a long ball on to Van Aanholt, who fires wide from a tight angle. Sunderland want a second.
67 min: On Second Thoughts: Alan Pardew.
65 min: Sissoko flays an aimless pass behind for a goal-kick. Newcastle are clueless in the final third. Moments later, Van Aanholt scythes through Ryan Taylor, who’s livid. That’s understandable given his injury history. Van Aanholt is booked.
62 min: Colback is booked for leaving a high boot on Gomez.
61 min: Gomez, an unlikely but surprisingly willing hatchet man, goes into the book for an ugly challenge on Janmaat.
58 min: Newcastle make their first change, Emmanuel Riviere on for Yoann Gouffran. Riviere hasn’t scored in the Premier League.
57 min: Gouffran appears to be playing in central midfield. Newcastle remain terrible.
55 min: Another corner on the left for Sunderland, who are still edging this. Krul claims Larsson’s delivery.
53 min: Cabella dribbles a volley wide from 25 yards. He’s no Jermain Defoe.
52 min: How warm is it in Sunderland? It’s sunny at the Stadium of Light, but Dick Advocaat is wearing a scarf.
49 min: Janmaat dawdles on the ball and loses it to Gomez. It runs to Defoe, who plays it back to Gomez, who chips a cross to the far post, where Fletcher is waiting. The ball is behind him, though, and his awkward volley is comfortably saved by Krul. Advocaat marches furiously back to his bench, annoyed that his team didn’t make more of that situation.
48 min: “I’m following your MBM while watching Octonauts over and over and over again with a tired, grumpy son,” says Matt Dony. “Although, I should really be building (well, putting together) a small shed for my lawnmower. Said lawnmower has wintered in the corner of my dining room. Yet another job that will have to wait until tomorrow. 20yr old me is disappointed in the way present-day me is using a bank holiday weekend.”
47 min: Colback drags a shot wide from 20 yards. The Sunderland fans enjoyed that. They don’t like him any more.
46 min: Here we go again.
Newcastle have 35 points and have won twice in 2015. Would you put it past John Carver to take them down?
Jermain Defoe walks off nearly in tears, his stunning goal having given Sunderland a precious lead at the break. That was an incredible moment and completely out of context with everything that had preceded it.
Ahem. And this is why Jermain Defoe is earning that £70,000 a week. A ball was pumped forward and was headed up into the air by Fletcher. It dropped on to the left boot of Defoe, 25 yards out, and he slammed an incredible volley past the despairing Krul and into the top-left corner! The Stadium of Light explodes!
44 min: “Can you enliven this game by reminding us how much Jermain Defoe is earning each week for doing not very much?” says Kevin Wilson. Just the £70,000 a week.
43 min: Gutierrez is penalised for bringing down Jones on the right, although it looked like he got the ball. Newcastle will be annoyed if they concede from this. So it’s just as well that Larsson’s free-kick is headed away.
42 min: Wickham breaks down the right, with space to attack. He has Defoe in the middle, but his low centre is incompetent.
41 min: Taylor is booked for catching Larsson on the left. Nothing comes from the free-kick. “It’s games like this that make me yearn for the comedy football stylings of Titus Bramble,” says Cheyenne Hollis. “I mean even in the worst of games he was good for some form of entertainment, or at least the possibility of some entertainment. It was surely better than seeing a possibly injured right back playing centre back.”
39 min: Santiago Vergini earns himself a booking for doing something stupid. That’s his forte.
38 min: A golf ball has just been chucked in the direction of Jack Colback by a Sunderland fan. Well done, lads.
37 min: In the absence of anything interesting happening on the pitch, here’s a video of Jermain Defoe scoring against Sunderland during West Ham’s doomed battle against relegation in 2003. How times change! Ha! Makes you think! And just as I’m writing this entry, suddenly Defoe is running clear on goal after a flick from Fletcher! The volume rises, the Newcastle defence frets, Tim Krul steels himself for the inevitable - and then Defoe takes a heavy touch, allowing a Newcastle defender to get back and knock it behind for a corner. What a waste,