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Sunderland 2 Newcastle United 1 (27/10/2013)
Victory for Sunderland in their biggest game of the season injects optimism into weary minds and spreads belief that, under Gus Poyet, things might not turn out to be quite as bad as feared on Wearside.
Defeat, though, drains Newcastle United. They will have to batten down the hatches at St James’ Park and ride out the storm of criticism that follows derby defeats like these. The contrast in emotions between the rival managers could not be starker.
Alan Pardew knows what is coming this week. He has to inspire a considerably better reaction from his players against Manchester City in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night than he mustered back in April when a 3-0 home defeat by Sunderland was followed by a 6-0 thrashing at home to Liverpool. He almost lost his job as a result, Newcastle just about clung on to a place in the top flight.
For Poyet this result was perfect. When he was a player, the Uruguayan was dubbed by Sir Bobby Robson as the “scourge of Newcastle United” as he kept scoring against them and he has continued to harass them as a manager.
He has won his three meetings with Newcastle – yesterday’s victory and two FA Cup successes when he was in charge of Brighton and Hove Albion. He is becoming the stuff of Newcastle nightmares, the bogeyman who now lives just 12 miles away.
That will merely raise his stock at Sunderland even higher, although this has to be the start of a revival, not just an isolated highlight.
“They’re going to hate me even more now,” said Poyet, whose side have moved above Crystal Palace at the foot of the table. “They asked me before the game about being the ‘scourge’ of Newcastle United and I thought: ‘It’s not going to change now, is it, when I need three points?’ I don’t know how or why it happens, there are no explanations.
“I didn’t like to see the table. When you’re bottom it is not nice, but we’re off the bottom, and that is something.
“We beat our biggest rivals – that is even bigger. Now we need to start passing the ball better, we need to keep believing, we need to do different things. This is what we needed. From now on there are no excuses because we needed a lift and there is no better lift than this one.
“I’m very happy for the players and absolutely delighted for the fans. I saw what it means and I can imagine how they will be this week. I don’t know how much it matters that you’re second from bottom, it’s about beating your rivals.”
Poyet will have to share the glory with the man who smashed in the winner. On as a substitute, Fabio Borini almost scored with his first touch when his shot squeezed through the legs of Tim Krul but, mercifully for the Newcastle goalkeeper, not over the line.
Newcastle were level at that stage, their ability to build up pressure on the home side’s defence rewarded when Hatem Ben Arfa’s low cross missed everyone in the middle and was slotted in by right-back Mathieu Debuchy at the far post.
Adam Johnson had a decent game in attack, but he was badly at fault here, dozing off on defensive duty and allowing the Frenchman to run in unmarked to claim his first Newcastle goal.
The momentum appeared to be with Newcastle. Yohan Cabaye went close to scoring a second, Shola Ameobi went even closer, but Sunderland were not finished. Steven Fletcher won a dubious free-kick following a clash with Cheick Tioté, the ball moved on to Borini, and he advanced a few yards and smashed a peach into the top corner.
“When we got the equaliser, the more the game went on, the more control we got,” said a clearly ruffled Pardew. “We had two or three good chances at 1-1 and, if we’d got the second goal, the game would have been over because they would have been dead.
“Unfortunately for us we didn’t and the referee has played a part in this defeat because that was definitely not a free kick in my opinion. The linesman has given a throw, the referee gave a foul and one or two of ours switched off. It’s a real tough one for us to take.”
There were still six minutes to play, plus stoppage time, but the visitors never looked like equalising for a second time and the result means Pardew has become the first Newcastle manager to lose successive derby games since Joe Harvey in 1967.
Mind you, Harvey was also the last manager to win a major trophy for the club, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969, so maybe the omens are not so terrible. Beat City and this defeat, although not forgotten, will not remain an open wound.
The club’s cause has not been helped by a decision last week to ban all three local newspapers, The Chronicle, Journal and Sunday Sun for their coverage of a protest march against owner Mike Ashley the previous weekend.
Those local reporters at the Stadium of Light yesterday were even told they could not ask questions in the post-match press conference.
They have no reason to be lenient or offer excuses for a defeat that hurts their readers like no other.
Victory for Sunderland in their biggest game of the season injects optimism into weary minds and spreads belief that, under Gus Poyet, things might not turn out to be quite as bad as feared on Wearside.
Defeat, though, drains Newcastle United. They will have to batten down the hatches at St James’ Park and ride out the storm of criticism that follows derby defeats like these. The contrast in emotions between the rival managers could not be starker.
Alan Pardew knows what is coming this week. He has to inspire a considerably better reaction from his players against Manchester City in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night than he mustered back in April when a 3-0 home defeat by Sunderland was followed by a 6-0 thrashing at home to Liverpool. He almost lost his job as a result, Newcastle just about clung on to a place in the top flight.
For Poyet this result was perfect. When he was a player, the Uruguayan was dubbed by Sir Bobby Robson as the “scourge of Newcastle United” as he kept scoring against them and he has continued to harass them as a manager.
He has won his three meetings with Newcastle – yesterday’s victory and two FA Cup successes when he was in charge of Brighton and Hove Albion. He is becoming the stuff of Newcastle nightmares, the bogeyman who now lives just 12 miles away.
That will merely raise his stock at Sunderland even higher, although this has to be the start of a revival, not just an isolated highlight.
“They’re going to hate me even more now,” said Poyet, whose side have moved above Crystal Palace at the foot of the table. “They asked me before the game about being the ‘scourge’ of Newcastle United and I thought: ‘It’s not going to change now, is it, when I need three points?’ I don’t know how or why it happens, there are no explanations.
“I didn’t like to see the table. When you’re bottom it is not nice, but we’re off the bottom, and that is something.
“We beat our biggest rivals – that is even bigger. Now we need to start passing the ball better, we need to keep believing, we need to do different things. This is what we needed. From now on there are no excuses because we needed a lift and there is no better lift than this one.
“I’m very happy for the players and absolutely delighted for the fans. I saw what it means and I can imagine how they will be this week. I don’t know how much it matters that you’re second from bottom, it’s about beating your rivals.”
Poyet will have to share the glory with the man who smashed in the winner. On as a substitute, Fabio Borini almost scored with his first touch when his shot squeezed through the legs of Tim Krul but, mercifully for the Newcastle goalkeeper, not over the line.
Newcastle were level at that stage, their ability to build up pressure on the home side’s defence rewarded when Hatem Ben Arfa’s low cross missed everyone in the middle and was slotted in by right-back Mathieu Debuchy at the far post.
Adam Johnson had a decent game in attack, but he was badly at fault here, dozing off on defensive duty and allowing the Frenchman to run in unmarked to claim his first Newcastle goal.
The momentum appeared to be with Newcastle. Yohan Cabaye went close to scoring a second, Shola Ameobi went even closer, but Sunderland were not finished. Steven Fletcher won a dubious free-kick following a clash with Cheick Tioté, the ball moved on to Borini, and he advanced a few yards and smashed a peach into the top corner.
“When we got the equaliser, the more the game went on, the more control we got,” said a clearly ruffled Pardew. “We had two or three good chances at 1-1 and, if we’d got the second goal, the game would have been over because they would have been dead.
“Unfortunately for us we didn’t and the referee has played a part in this defeat because that was definitely not a free kick in my opinion. The linesman has given a throw, the referee gave a foul and one or two of ours switched off. It’s a real tough one for us to take.”
There were still six minutes to play, plus stoppage time, but the visitors never looked like equalising for a second time and the result means Pardew has become the first Newcastle manager to lose successive derby games since Joe Harvey in 1967.
Mind you, Harvey was also the last manager to win a major trophy for the club, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969, so maybe the omens are not so terrible. Beat City and this defeat, although not forgotten, will not remain an open wound.
The club’s cause has not been helped by a decision last week to ban all three local newspapers, The Chronicle, Journal and Sunday Sun for their coverage of a protest march against owner Mike Ashley the previous weekend.
Those local reporters at the Stadium of Light yesterday were even told they could not ask questions in the post-match press conference.
They have no reason to be lenient or offer excuses for a defeat that hurts their readers like no other.
