Match Reaction – Sunderland 2-1 Newcastle

Article by Newcastle Correspondent Sophie Hedley

A late Fabio Borini goal saw Sunderland take all three points against North-East rivals Newcastle United.

Goals from Steven Fletcher and Borini resulted in Sunderland’s first win of the season, moving them off the bottom of the table.

Newcastle’s fourth defeat of the season sees them end the weekend in 11^th place, with tricky fixtures against Chelsea and Tottenham next up for them.

Steven Fletcher opened the scoring five minutes in, scoring a header lead to by an Adam Johnson cross to put Sunderland one-nil up.

Sunderland kept pushing throughout the first half, aiming to take advantage of Newcastle’s weakened defensive partnership of Mike Williamson and Geordie Paul Dummett.

However, Newcastle kept themselves in the game and defender Mathieu Debuchy equalised in the 57^th minute, scoring his first goal for the club.

The Magpies controlled the second half, with Yohan Cabaye having the pick of their chances with a couple of close shots.

Substitute Shola Ameobi also came close, shooting just inches wide 78 minutes in.

Gus Poyet’s inspired substitute Fabio Borini then took advantage of Newcastle’s missed chances, securing Poyet’s first home win and Sunderland’s second derby win in a row with a stunning goal.

Reaction:

Goalscorer Mathieu Debuchy told Newcastle United’s official website:

“It was my first goal but I'm not happy because we lost the game.

"I would prefer to not score and win the game.

"Nobody is happy today because we lost this game (the Tyne-Wear derby) again.

"The first half was no good. We lost the ball and did not keep it enough. That made things difficult for us as a team.

"In the second half it was better but we didn't win the game and that was all that mattered.

"Three points was there for the team. It was important for the Club, the fans, the team and for the championship but we didn't do it.”

My Thoughts:

A second loss in a row in an important fixture we’re normally successful in just isn’t right. Of course, being a derby this was never going to be a typical game but Sunderland have been abysmal all season, and there’s no way they should have taken all three points off us.

Alan Pardew will no doubt take a lot of the criticism for this result, as he always does. However, I’m more likely to point my finger at players like Yoan Gouffran, Papiss Cisse and Loic Remy, who were simply not good enough.

Gouffran, who is normally so effective and good at bringing other players into the game, put in a forgettable performance. Remy had probably his quietest game for us, in a game where we needed someone like him to step up and Cisse, who came on as a substitute for Moussa Sissoko, still never looks like scoring.

Other than his lack of goals, he seems to lack the enthusiasm he oozed last season, and I thought it would have had more impact for Pardew to bring on ‘Mackem Slayer’ Shola Ameobi at half-time, instead of Cisse.

This was another unspectacular game for Newcastle. Although we seem incapable of performing well for a whole match, we did improve a lot in the second half and showed some promise.

However, I can’t help but feel that other than a dent in the Geordie pride, we missed three points which would have been vital after our next few games, which include tough matches against Chelsea and Spurs.

Next fixture: Man City (h), League Cup. (Weds 30/10, 7.45pm)