Before this game Sam Allardyce confessed to having aged while taking charge of Sunderland’s long struggle against relegation. By the time the final whistle went, he would have felt ready for a care home.
His team had been fortunate to go into stoppage time only a goal down to Stoke and during the added minutes Sunderland should have conceded another. Then with time almost done, Geoff Cameron tried to block Jermain Defoe as he turned and conceded a penalty.
It was soft and Sunderland had thus far deserved only defeat but in Defoe they had a striker who could be entrusted with this kind of pressure. As he ran up to take the kick in front of the 3,000 who had travelled down from Wearside, Defoe told himself to stay focused and relaxed. He did and his 17th goal of the season ensured the final Saturday in April was not as disastrous for Sunderland as it had threatened to be.
They fell back into the relegation zone and, to quote the North-east vernacular, Sunderland are still “in the clarts” but, crucially, they have a game in hand and their fate is still in Allardyce’s big, pudgy hands. He remarked that, without Defoe, Sunderland would probably already have been relegated.
“We have to make our game in hand, against Everton, really count,” he said. “If we can hold our nerve, we can repeat the great escape this club has done in the last three seasons. They were nervous here and I didn’t expect that edginess. I will try to calm those nerves and try to get them ready to play Chelsea.”
Their supporters, at least, were confident and two were brave enough to watch the match bare chested, a risky procedure in the Potteries in August, let alone on a day in which freezing rain had been pelting down over the city.
If you had taken someone with no knowledge of football to the Britannia Stadium, they would not have picked Sunderland as the team fighting for its life. They were mute, lethargic and some of the play from both sides bordered on the inept.
It was epitomised by one move which saw Xherdan Shaqiri fall over and then commit a foul while trying to win the ball back. Lee Cattermole took it quickly, lobbing it straight at Stoke’s young Danish keeper, Jakob Haugaard, who had conceded 10 times in his three previous games. Allardyce regretted Sunderland’s inability to test him and was to regret the move that, moments later, sent Stoke ahead even more.
As Peter Crouch, who led Stoke’s attack superbly, headed down Charlie Adam’s ball into the box, Allardyce felt he impeded Younes Kaboul. Even then, it probably wouldn’t have produced a goal had not Lamine Kone miskicked wildly and allowed Marko Arnautovic a free shot at goal he did not squander. Allardyce also felt the referee, Craig Pawson, should have awarded Sunderland a first-half penalty for Cameron’s handball in the first half.
Nevertheless, Sunderland only seemed to come alive once Stoke had taken the lead and news had come through that, at St James’ Park, Newcastle were ahead. Even then, they did not raise their game by very much. A dreadful long pass from Cattermole that drifted out of play without any Sunderland player near it sent Allardyce on the pitch and into paroxysms of fury. “Keep it simple,” he yelled.
Sunderland could barely keep the ball and it seemed only a question of whether Stoke could put this game out of its misery. A shot from Glenn Whelan might have done so but it fizzed past the post.
Then came the moment that should have decided the match – Crouch’s flick-on to Jonathan Walters that began the breakaway and the pass that sent Giannelli Imbula clean through. Stoke’s record signing has plenty of qualities but searing pace is not one of them and his shot lacked conviction.
There were perhaps a couple of minutes of stoppage time remaining and it seemed Stoke’s first home win since March 2 was assured. Defoe ensured it was not and to make Sunderland’s journey home that much sweeter, that win had been against Newcastle.
Stoke City: (4-2-3-1) Haugaard; Bardsley, Cameron, Shawcross, Pieters; Whelan, Imbula; Shaqiri (Diouf 77), Adam (Muniesa 86), Arnautovic (Walters 54); Crouch. Substitutes: Bachmann (g), Joselu, Wollschied, Bojan.
Sunderland: (4-1-4-1) Mannone; Yedlin, Kone, Kaboul, Van Aanholt; Kirchhoff (Larsson 77); Borini (N’Doye 60), Cattermole, M’Vila, Khazri (Whatmore 60); Defoe. Substitutes: Pickford (g), Jones, Rodwell, O’Shea.
Referee: Craig Pawson
Match rating: 5/10
Man of the match: Peter Crouch (Stoke)
Attendance: 27,667.
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