Sunderland freeze as Foé fires up City slickers

Sunderland are this year's Leicester City. Discuss. Both sacked their managers in early autumn after a long run of poor form and deep crowd unrest and replaced them with a gnarled veteran and a young deputy. Both staggered through a Premiership campaign weighed down by a chronic inability to score goals.

It would make very sobering reading on Wearside but at this stage of last season, Leicester had the same number of wins and points but had managed three more goals.

Manchester City did score three times, something hopelessly beyond Sunderland's compass or imagination – the last a shot on the spin from Shaun Goater three minutes from time – and might have managed more had they not struck the crossbar in either half as Kevin Keegan's 100 per-cent record against Sunderland was effortlessly maintained.

The City manager, who still lives in the North-East, made diplomatic comments about the home side's "spirit", but added: "We felt if we could match their endeavour we could create something and we did. No team has found consistency this season but, if we do, we can start looking up at the Evertons and the Blackburns."

Sunderland are gazing across at the West Hams and the Boltons and down towards the Nationwide League. This was their fifth successive match without scoring and it says much that, with 24 minutes left and 2-0 down, Howard Wilkinson, who said this was their worst performance under him, should withdraw his two main strikers. It says more that, without Tore Andre Flo and Kevin Phillips, Sunderland looked more likely to score.

Keegan remarked that only in the last few matches have City looked comfortable in the Premiership and cited last night's win as their most important away from Maine Road. It should be said, however, that Sunderland were without virtually their entire first-choice midfield and lost Jody Craddock, arguably their most effective defender, when he twisted his ankle warming up. His replacement, Joachim Bjorklund, had something of a night to remember, heading Kevin Horlock's free-kick against his own crossbar, although, to his relief, Goater miscued the rebound from all of five yards. On the brink of half-time, he set off in vain pursuit of Marc-Vivien Foé as the latter pounded after Sun Jihai's long punt upfield.

Jürgen Macho decided to race off his line to fist the ball away and called wrong as Foé stuck out a long leg, flicked it past the keeper and then drove it past Bjorklund's frantic dive. For a team like Sunderland, who had then not scored in more than seven hours of play, to concede a goal like that was simply disastrous. It is the nature of defending that few would recall Bjorklund's beautifully-timed tackle on Nicolas Anelka, who was later to hit the crossbar just before Goater scored, when anything less would have led to a penalty.

Sunderland did not lack for effort but this was an evening which required something more. A deep cross from Kevin Kilbane found Phillips on the six-yard line but this is not the man who won the European Golden Boot. The shot was fluffed. Their most likely route to goal lay in the inexperienced boots of Michael Proctor and, although he was played out of position on the right wing, he offered glimmers of desperately-needed hope. His manager is a huge admirer of D H Lawrence but, deep in the relegation zone in December, the rainbow's end must seem very far off.

Sunderland (4-4-2) Macho 3; Wright 5, Bjorklund 7, Babb 6, McCartney 5; Proctor 7, Thirlwell 6, Kilbane 6, Gray 4 (Stewart 4, 66); Flo 3 (Kyle 5, 66), Phillips 4 (Bellion 6, 66). Substitutes not used: Williams, Poom (gk).

Manchester City (3-5-2): Schmeichel 6, Dunne 5, Howey 6, Distin 7, Sun Jihai 8, Foé 7, Berkovic 6, Horlock 5, Tiatto 6, Goater 5, Anelka 7. Substitutes not used: Bernabia, Huckerby, Wiekens, Jensen, Nash (gk).

Referee: S Dunn (Avon).