Sunderland 2 - West Bromwich Albion 4

Date:	Saturday 24th November 2012
Competition:	Barclays Premier League
Sunderland: 5.2
WBA: 8.2	(4-2-3-1) Myhill 6.3, Jones 7.0, McAuley 7.7, Olsson 7.6, Ridgewell 7.1, Yacob 8.1, Morrison 7.4 (Tamas, 91 6.1), Odemwingie 6.9 (Fortun, 69 6.9), Gera 8.6, Brunt 6.9, Long 8.0 (Lukaku, 69 7.3) Unused subs: Daniels, Popov, Rosenberg, Dorrans Manager: Steve Clarke 8.2
Scorers:	Gera (30), Long (44), Lukaku (80 pen), Fortun (95)
Referee:	Mike Dean (Wirral) 5.2
Attendance:	36,390 Home Fans 4.7 Away Fans 8.3

Martyn Walters:

West Brom moved into third place in the Barclays Premier League with a resounding 2-4 win at Sunderland as their fine start to the season continues.

Following their win over European champions Chelsea Steve Clarke this week played down talk of his side qualifying for Europe.

These are exciting times for Albion fans not since 1953/1954 have they started a season so well. The Baggies were gunning for a fourth straight win in the league having recently secured victories over Chelsea, Wigan and Southampton. Their opponents Sunderland were boosted by their win at Fulham last weekend which eased the pressure on Martin O?Neill.

Once again Steve Clarke showed he isn?t afraid to make changes to his side with fit again Gareth McAuley replacing the unfortunate Gabriel Tamas and club captain Chris Brunt replacing the injured Yousuff Mulumbu.

Albion dominated possession in the early stages and Claudio Yacob missed a glorious chance to give his side the lead when he headed over from a Chris Brunt corner. Sunderland responded with Stephane Sessegnon firing a volley goalwards which Boaz Myhill turned behind for a corner.

On the half hour mark the Baggies deservedly took the lead with Zoltan Gera?s third goal of the season. The Hungarian found space just outside the area and fired a stunning effort into the top corner after good work by Peter Odemwingie.

Sunderland were always in the game and Martin O?Neill?s men came closer to an equaliser when John O?Shea fired inches wide after a poor clearance by Jonas Olsson.

A minute before the break it was 0-2 after Belgian international Mignolet inexplicably fumbled a Chris Brunt through ball giving Shane Long a chance he could barley miss.

Steve Clarke?s side were fastest out of the blocks in the second half and it could have been 0-3 as Shane Long was slipped in by James Morrison but this time Mignolet thwarted the Irishman with a fine block.

Albion sensed blood and Odemwingie was inches away from adding a third when he fired a 20 yard bullet just wide after evading two challenges.

However Sunderland halved the deficit with sixteen minutes to go when Craig Gardner?s free-kick deflected off Marc-Antoine Fortune giving Myhill no chance as the ball looped into the top corner.

Eight minutes later Albion were given a great chance to seal the points when Referee Mike Dean awarded them a penalty after defender Liam Ridgewell was upended by Adam Johnson. Romelu Lukaku on-loan from Chelsea was cool as a cucumber as he sent Mignolet the wrong way to make it 1-3.

Incredibly the game wasn?t finished there as Sessegnon fired home from close range after Albion failed to clear the danger from a corner.

Sunderland were now throwing everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at Albion and Claudio Yacob did brilliantly to rob James Mclean of possession to set up a counter attack. The Argentine fed Lukaku who raced down the wing before unselfishly squaring for Fortune who finished with aplomb.

Steve Clarke quite rightly will keep his players grounded but if West Brom can stay clear of injuries there is every possibility the Baggies will be competing for a place in Europe come the end of the season.

Philip Cole (RSABaggie):

Well I think it's time to say it, isn't it? We are a very good side and we deserve to be where we are in the table. To be honest we made this look harder than it was through our striker rotation policy, which for me was the main factor that let Sunderland back in to the game. Long is now a top striker: hard running, holding up and never giving up, empitomised by his goal out of Mignolet's fumble. Most strikers wouldn't have bothered. Peter Odemwingie is always a threat with his pace and good footwork, but he's now added defensive covering and tracking back to his repetoire. Once these two came off we lost some of our organisation in my view by weakening the defend-from-the-front approach at which we are so good. Lukaku and Fortune are not as strong and, understandably as they have had less game time recently, are not as well drilled in our formidably organised style of play.

Sunderland, a side in which far more money has been invested than ours, really were quite poor. They were also quite visibly worried about us every time we came forward, especially Shane Long. When they attacked, by contrast, they huffed and puffed but to be honest most of the time we looked well in control through our defensive organisation, at least until our final 20 min substitution of our attackers.

I've pretty much given up giving individual marks as our performances are based so strongly on teamwork, formidable organisation and everyone known their jobs. Boaz Myhill didn't reach the goalkeeping heights that he did last week and fumbled a few times, although nowhere near as badly as the poor Sunderland keeper. Brunt did OK without being spectacular and understandably faded towards the end, although he did get a fortuitous assist for Shane Long's goal. Otherwise it was the Albion team machine at play, which now looks very strong. It's a great time to be a Baggie!

the liquidator:

After so many years (first game in 67) this is a truly momentous time to be a Baggies fan. As others have written here, the team performance, unity, organisation, individual performances, tactics and level of entertainment I feel justifies our position.

A nod and wink also to the those magnificent travelling Baggies fans. I have been with em over the years (alas no more!) and they deserve this moment -so great to hear them throughout the live televised game.

Oh Happy days indeed!!

Paul Gainham:

I lie Sunderland... because we normally get something there.

Literally just walked back into the house after singing all through the game and most of the way home in the car. Games like today's will define our season, we could easily have scored 6 or 7, at times completely played Sunderland off the park with some really neat flowing football but then let them back into it and at one point I had mentally settled for a draw.

We did miss Mulumbu but not as much as I had feared, Morrison was a willing and able deputy alongside the imperious Yacob and that partnership formed the basis of a dominant midfield 5 in which Gera and Yacob were the standouts.

The defence were put under pressure after they scored their first but Olsson and McCauley were immense today and with initially Jones and later Ridgewell nullifying any real threat from Johnson, the only tactic Sunderland had at their disposal was the long punt up front to Fletcher which for most of the game we handled with ease.

I did not have my glasses on today and their two goals were at the opposite end from the away fans. I don't think Myhill could do anything with the first but maybe could have done better with the second. He did make a couple of really good saves as well but was not at the same level as against Chelsea last week.

Going forward, Long put in another tireless performance to the point where they took O'Shea off at HT, I assume because Long kept catching him out and he was already on a yellow. Odemwingie not quite at the races today, covered well at times but often made the wrong decision with the ball or did not move it on quickly enough.

Overall, a great away win and we must surely be the first game on MOTD tonight, surely?

Player Marks

Myhill 7 Made some good saves, not quite as commanding a performance as against Chelsea though
Jones 7 Solid and dependable
Ridgewell 7 Ditto Jones
Olsson 8 A masterful display of leading the defensive line
McCauley 8 Commanding performance alongside Olsson
Yacob 9 Fantastic disply, always in the right place at the right time, did simple things incredibly well
Gera 9 Just sneaked my MOTM ahead of Yacob - great goal and an all action display
Odemwingie 6 A little disappointing after the highs of last week
Morrison 7 Slotted in well to Mulumbu's role, played some good stuff out to the forwards and wide men and complemented Yacob well
Brunt 7 Better performance from him today, more engaged and made himself available, good ball through for Longs goal
Long 8 Another energetic display, hassled their defence and got his rewards with a sniffers goal

Subs

Lukaku 8 Put a lot of energy in to his short time on the pitch, scored the pen, hit the post, could have had another
Fortune 8 Did well when he came on, sweetly took goal.
Tamas Not on long enough really to mark