Fletcher off mark to lift Sunderland off bottom
ASHLEY FLETCHER may look back on a windy, sodden night in Derby as the overdue turning point in his season. Relegationthreatened Sunderland could say the same. The 22-year-old striker, on loan from Middlesbrough, has been low on confidence since a £6.5million move from West Ham last year. So what a moment to score his first goal for Sunderland and, more importantly, give his side hope and lift them off the bottom of the table. Fletcher also missed a sitter and cracked the woodwork to show that he is still a work in progress but he contributed hugely to an extraordinary night for Chris Coleman’s team. George Honeyman’s opener, deflected in off Derby defender Craig Forsyth, Aidan McGeady’s penalty and a late contribution from John O’Shea put the travelling fans into dreamland and spoiled Gary Rowett’s 50th game in charge of Derby. Both these sides had a miserable previous 10 games. For Derby, one win, seven draws and three losses saw them go from automatic promotion contenders to the play-off scrap. Sunderland didn’t win any of their previous 10, yet Derby had not beaten Sunderland since 2001 — some 11 games. The visitors took a two-goal lead after just 35 minutes. Not for the first time this season, Matej Vydra stepped up to deliver hope and a goal for Derby. A long cross from Bradley Johnson was knocked back by Andreas Weimann and Vydra claimed his 18th league goal of the season. But early in the second half Forsyth brought down Lynden Gooch to concede the penalty before O’Shea rounded off the night and sparked a mass exodus from Pride Park.