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Sunderland’s run continued in snowy conditions as they beat 10-man Stoke 1-0 in their Premier League clash at the Britannia Stadium.
Heavy snow fell throughout the game to make football virtually unplayable at times, and a match of few chances was decided when James McClean stumbled through the Stoke defence on the hour mark to lash home past Thomas Sorensen from point blank range.

The victory sees Martin O’Neill’s incredible run continue, with the Black Cats now having picked up 22 points from their last 10 matches since the Northern Irishman took the helm.

But Stoke boss Tony Pulis was left furious, perhaps rightly blaming the defeat on the decision to send off Robert Huth for a two-footed challenge at the end of the first half.

Sunderland arrived at the Britannia Stadium level in the table with Stoke on 30 points apiece, but with all the momentum in their favour after amassing 19 of those points in the nine matches since the arrival of O’Neill.

That record made Sunderland the form team of the top flight, but you wouldn’t have known it from the early exchanges as Tony Pulis’s men controlled the game well.

Yet while the hosts dominated possession, it led to little. The horrendous weather clearly made life difficult for both sets of players, with the ball occasionally drawing to a bizarre halt as it hit a patch of uncleared snow.

The two sides both resorted to speculative long balls up field and occasional pot shots from distance, but with the two sets of defenders clearly up for the challenge there were precious few even of those.

Jermaine Pennant – the best player on the park in the first half – was lively for Stoke up the right flank, and he even got a shot away just before the 10-minute mark only to see it come straight back off the shins of the first defender.

After that efforts were limited, but Sunderland came the closest to breaking the deadlock on the half-hour mark when solid work from Jack Colback made space for Frenchman Stephane Sessegnon to shoot.

His shot fizzed low, just missing the left upright; it was the only true chance of the half, and Thomas Sorensen probably had it covered in any case.

Yet the complexion of the match was changed just a few minutes later when three players left the field. First, the lively Cameron Jerome was replaced by Ricardo Fuller after landing badly in a mid-air tussle with Michael Turner.

Then, just before half-time Rob Huth was given a straight red card for a two-footed challenge on David Meyler. The decision seemed harsh but fair, in the light of recent red card challenges.

Yet it seemed that it would cost Stoke any chance as they effectively lost both Huth and also their most creative player in Pennant, sacrificed as Pulis – furious with the referee – brought on Jonathan Woodgate to plug the defensive gap.

As the second period got under way, Stoke’s players endeavoured to make the deficit irrelevant, however.

Pushing forward at every opportunity they tried to take charge of the match, but given their man disadvantage that left Sunderland with chances to break.

The Black Cats almost broke the deadlock on 56 minutes from just such a counter-attack, but successive crosses from Seb Larsson and Colback merely slid across the box.

Just four minutes later Sunderland made up for those missed chances. McClean made a run into the box and should have been closed down by either Woodgate or Ryan Shawcross – but both Stoke defenders, perhaps overly wary of conceding a penalty in the conditions, misjudged their challenges.

That allowed McClean to stumble through, slipping as he did so but regaining his balance in time to slot home from nine yards past the defenceless Thomas Sorensen.

The goal was scarcely merited on the run of play, but as the ball hit the back of the net it seemed there was no way back for Pulis’s men.

Not that the Stoke players lay down – far from it – they came forward at every chance, with Fuller causing problems on the left and getting away an excellent shot that drew a fine save from Simon Mignolet on 75 minutes.

Stoke continued to throw everything at their guests, with Rory Delap and Peter Crouch both having chances in the final few minutes.

Sunderland’s vigorous defence held firm however, with Kieran Richardson in particular outstanding, as O’Neill’s Black Cats continued their astonishing progress up the Premier League table.
Source: Eurosport

TEAMS LINE-UP:
Stoke: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Shawcross, Huth, Wilson, Pennant, Whelan, Delap, Walters, Jerome, Crouch. Subs: Begovic, Jones, Fuller, Diao, Whitehead, Shotton, Woodgate //// Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, O’Shea, Turner, Richardson, Larsson, Gardner, Meyler, Colback, McClean, Sessegnon. Subs: Westwood, Bridge, Campbell, Wickham, Ji, Kyrgiakos, Elmohamady

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Andrew Surman and Anthony Pilkington each scored in the final 20 minutes as Norwich beat Bolton 2-0 in the Premier League at Carrow Road – after the Canaries lost both centre-backs to injury in the first half.
Norwich would have led sooner but for Surman’s glaring miss before defenders Daniel Ayala and Zak Whitbread limped off with hamstring injuries, forcing Paul Lambert into a tactical reshuffle.

Bolton failed to take advantage and Norwich went ahead when Surman fired into the roof of the net from close-range.

The Trotters struggled to create clear chances and Norwich made the points safe five minutes from time when Pilkington pounced after Adam Bogdan had spilt Russell Martin’s shot.

Norwich had the better of the first half as Grant Holt caused the visitors problems at the back, and predictably the skipper was involved in Norwich’s best chance of the half – a glaring miss from Surman.

Laying the ball off to Surman seven yards out, Holt looked to have assisted the opener, but Surman managed to fire his shot against the bar with his weaker right foot with just Bogdan to beat.

Lambert’s problems were compounded when, barely 15 minutes after losing Daniel Ayala to a hamstring injury, he lost his other centre-back Whitbread to the same complaint.

But rather than exploit Norwich’s weakness, Bolton continued to look timid in attack and created their best chances when Chris Eagles found space to run at the Canaries back line.

And Bolton should have gone ahead when Eagles delivered a perfect ball in from the right, only for substitute Kevin Davies to fail to connect with a tentative swing of his boot.

Bolton, who could have moved five points clear of Blackburn in 19th place with victory at Carrow Road, were finally punished for their shyness in front of goal when Surman put the home side ahead.

The lively Simeon Jackson, preferred to Steve Morison in attack, found space down the right and cut back to Surman, who fired in after his first shot had been blocked by David Wheater.

Bolton pushed forward with greater urgency as the clock ticked down, but the closest they came was a couple of wayward efforts by Martin Petrov.

Norwich then sealed the points with just five minutes to play, when Pilkington tapped in Bogdan’s spill after Bolton had failed to clear a corner.

The win leaves Norwich with 32 points and comfortably in mid-table, but for Bolton, their long journey towards Premier League survival has become a little more arduous.
Source: Eurosport

Team Line-up:
NORWICH: Ruddy, Naughton, Whitbread, Ayala, Drury, Fox, Pilkington, Surman, Hoolahan, Holt, Jackson. Subs: Steer, Martin, Johnson, Morison, Crofts, Bennett, Wilbraham /// BOLTON: Bogdan, Mears, Wheater, Knight, Ricketts, Eagles, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Mark Davies, Ngog. Subs: Jaaskelainen, Sanli, Kevin Davies, Klasnic, Pratley, Boyata, Sordell

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A late header from Victor Anichebe spared Tim Howard’s blushes as Everton snatched a 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic in a sleety Premier League clash at the DW Stadium.
Seconds after coming off the bench, Anichibe met Leighton Baines’s excellent cross with a powerful header to cancel out a bizarre own-goal by Phil Neville as the conditions proved key at the DW Stadium.

Neville, on as a half-time substitute for the injured Tim Cahill, had deflected a Jean Beausejour cross towards Tim Howard, who had it well covered until the ball took a highly-unusual bounce that sent it spinning over his shoulder and into the back of the net.

The result continues a curious Everton statistic of never losing a Premier League match in which Anichebe has scored, while Wigan stay rooted to the bottom of the table after missing out on all three points.

Wigan impressed in the first half, passing well and creating the odd chance in spite of poor conditions in the sleet and rain.

Beausejour was particularly lively, finding Franco Di Santo a couple of times with good crosses; the first the Argentine was unable to make contact with, while for the second he saw his knock-down missed by Victor Moses arriving late.

Di Santo had a couple more opportunities before going off injured in the second half, firing one at Howard after getting the better of Sylvain Distain, then harassed into shooting over by Tony Hibbert after a great low ball from Ronnie Stam.

Everton were dangerous on the counter though, with Denis Stracqualursi firing straight at Ali Al-Habsi after good play from Landon Donovan, while Steven Pienaar and John Heitinga had half-chances from corners.

Darron Gibson, who scored the winner against Manchester City with one of his trademark powerful shots, was unable to connect properly with similar efforts on three occasions but Everton only really started to look like the better side when Nikica Jelavic made his entrance on the hour mark.

The deadline-day signing from Rangers immediately linked up well with his team-mates, almost releasing Marouane Fellaini with a step-over before finding the Belgian with a cross, only for Gary Caldwell to block the header.

Wigan, meanwhile, were still a threat, James McArthur seeing a shot deflected wide by what looked suspiciously like Heitinga’s arm, before missing a free header at the far post after Howard flapped at David Jones’s corner.

The match was starting to open up as McArthur – in the thick of it in the latter stages – cleared after a penalty-area pinball followed a free-kick he had given away.

Then came one of the stranger goals the Premier League will witness this season.

With a quarter of an hour left on the clock, Beausejour swung in a low cross that struck the outstretched boot of Neville. The diversion did not deceive Howard, who knelt down to gather the ball into his chest; however, the bounce off the turf did fool the American, who contorted his body in vain as the ball spun unnaturally over his despairing lunge and inside the right-hand post.

Everton responded well though, throwing everything at Wigan and bringing on forgotten man Anichebe.

The Nigeria international, whose promising career has been disrupted by injuries, had an immediate impact as – after a Baines corner was cleared back to the England left-back – he angled an unstoppable header inside the far post, helped by a wonderful, spinning delivery from the ex-Wigan man.

To their credit Wigan tried to win it late on, a flapping Howard this time relieved that Neville was on hand to block from Albert Crusat, but the spoils were shared and Wigan stay bottom. Everton, meanwhile, sit 11th on 30 points.
Source: Eurosport

Team Line-up:
WIGAN: Al Habsi, Stam, Boyce, Caldwell, Figueroa, Beausejour, McCarthy, McArthur, Gomez, Moses, Di Santo – Subs: Pollitt, Alcaraz, Crusat, Watson, Jones, Rodallega, Diame /// EVERTON: Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Pienaar, Fellaini, Gibson, Donovan, Cahill, Stracqualursi – Subs: Mucha, Jelavic, Drenthe, Neville, Gueye, Anichebe, Duffy