Who'd have thought it?

By The Black Cats
August 31 2010

Who'd have thought Man City would have not only not won at Sunderland on Sunday, but would actually go on to lose the match?

I have to say, I didn't think we'd get anything from the game and was hoping to get a point at best.

Perhaps if Tevez hasn't fluffed his lines and missed an open goal things would've been different, but that's football, things rarely play out how you expect them to.

After the game, even without the penalty, I'd have been very disappointed had we not taken at least a point as for the majority of the match we were by far the better team.

It was that man again, Darren Bent, who scored the winner. A penalty in the 3rd minute of injury time - a penalty which Joe Hart could have, and perhaps should have, saved, with the ball passing under his body.

For those of you that like to put a bet on. Darren Bent first goalscorer and a 1-0 Sunderland win was 40-1.

That's the 3rd game out of 4 this season that Darren Bent has been the first goalscorer - usually valued at around 4-1 - that's practically buying money.

The game was darkened however with a seemingly serious injury to Fraizer Campbell which could rule him out for the season but reports are saying that Asamoah Gyan, a star of the world cup with Ghana, is in Sunderland right this minute and close to signing. A good, if expensive (£12million plus), replacement if it comes off.

Each and every Sunderland players impressed in this match but a special mention has to go out to Simon Mignolet whose performance should silence any of his critics.

He made an outstanding reaction save from Adebayor to keep things at 0-0 shortley before Bent's penalty, which some people have commented was as good as Monty's in the '73 FA Cup Final (although Monty's was a double save).

"The save was magnificent and that will help him," Bruce said. "He's still a boy and we brought him in because we think he is going to be an outstanding goalkeeper.

"He's got all the attributes; we've thrown him in at the deep end and he's produced a wonder save which kept us in the game."

Mohammed Elmohamady also had a great game as did Kieran Richardson.

Here's what goal scorer Darren Bent had to say about the match.

"I was still getting my legs back after the game because they felt a bit wobbly," said Bent, who has now scored four goals in as many games this season.

"The whole team was fantastic, especially in the second half. The first half was all about containing City because they are a top side, but we got into them in the second half and got our reward."

"There was pressure but I just concentrated on hitting the penalty as hard as I could. It wasn't my greatest penalty but it ended up where I wanted it.

"It was a fantastic feeling. The result was great for the whole club because we've had some difficult ones of late, drawing against Birmingham late on and then losing at West Brom.

"But we bounced back well against one of the biggest teams in the league."

"It felt like the stadium was going to take off," he admitted. "It was fantastic for them. They are always there for us, home and away, and turn out in their thousands every week.

"The back four defended fantastically. A lot of people have talked about Titus' transfer but he was the man of the match for me. He showed the quality he's got and that's why we brought him in."

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