Sunderland emerged victorious at the Stadium Of Light in the Premier League for the first time since November 10th as they defeated Stoke City by one goal to nil. Adam Johnson got the only goal of the game after 17 minutes when he pounced on a rebound to poke home from close range. In the second half, Nzonzi was dismissed early on for a second bookable offence and Vito Mannone made vital saves to deny the visitors onslaught. Sunderland enjoyed most of the possession in the opening exchanges as Sebastian Larsson forced an early save from Asmir Begovic. At the other end, Vito Mannone had to be alert to collect Ki Sung Yeungs dangerous header back to goal. As the game approached the 20 minute mark Sunderland took the lead. Begovic can't hold Borini's initial effort and Adam Johnson rounded the hapless keeper before poking home for his fifth goal in three games. Stoke almost drew level minutes later when Charlie Adam struck one from distance but the ball flew narrowly past the post. Shortly before half-time pressure from Peter Crouch caused Mannone to drop a cross but the Italian was on hand twice to stop the Englishman pulling level. Mannone was at it again moments later with a superb save when Adam's wayward effort was directed towards goal by a diving header from Ryan Shawcross. Ten minutes into the second period Jozy Altidore was surging through on goal but was bundled over just outside the penalty box by Nzonzi, who was shown a second yellow card and given his marching orders. Moments later Begovic made an important save as he denied Altidore. Adam Johnson came close to his second goal after a fluid attacking move from the home side but he curled his effort went the wrong side of Begovic's post. On the 70th minute Sebastian Larsson hit a powerful shot from distance and was close to doubling his sides advantage but Begovic was able to make a great diving save, palming the ball away. Peter Odemwingie was close to a debut goal at the other end as he skilfully beat his marker but couldn't finish past Mannone. As the game edged towards its dying moments Shawcross flicked a header towards goal that painfully bounced off the crossbar as Stoke tried everything to rescue a point. The win lifts Sunderland out of the bottom three and just a single point behind Stoke, who now sit just three points ahead of West Ham and the final relegation position.
Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.
