WATFORD ................................................................ 1 Best of Britos means Plexit looms large for sorry Cats
MATCH STATS
SUNDERLAND’S fading survival hopes took another knock as Miguel Britos’ goal condemned them to defeat at Watford.
Britos headed the only goal of the game just before the hour mark at Vicarage Road to take the Hornets another step towards guaranteeing their place in the top flight, while nudging the Black Cats closer to the trap door.
With more than 2,000 Sunderland fans in the sold-out away end, there were boos at the final whistle.
Sunderland remain seven points from safety but they are showing no signs of staging the kind of revival that has dug them out of trouble in previous seasons,.
To make matters worse, relegation rivals Crystal Palace and Hull City both won – coming from behind to win at Chelsea and at home to West Ham respectively.
Next up for Sunderland is a trip to the King Power Stadium on Tuesday to face a resurgent Leicester City, who beat Stoke City 2-0.
Lamine Kone returned to the Sunderland starting XI in the only change to the side that began the goalless draw against Burnley a fortnight ago.
The Ivory Coast defender missed out against the Clarets due to a minor knee problem, but came straight back in and took the place of midfielder Seb Larsson.
That change saw Kone reunited with John O’Shea in central defence, with Jason Denayer moved into midfield to fill the gap left by Larsson.
Lee Cattermole’s name was back on the teamsheet for the first time since he underwent hip cartilage surgery in September, with the midfielder included on the bench.
Sunderland forced a flurry of David Moyes shows his frustration during the game, along with Bryan Oviedo and Fabio Borini early corners, the first coming when Jack Rodwell’s chip into the box was deflected onto the roof of the net.
And when Adnan Januzaj curled a ball into the box from the right side of the box, Heurelho Gomes had to get down to his right quickly to prevent the ball sneaking inside the far post.
But Watford soon came into the game and just before the quarterhour, Jordan Pickford made a fine double save, first pushing away a shot from M’Baye Niang and then when the loose ball was retrieved by Doucoure his low shot was heading for the bottom left-hand corner until the England U21 keeper pushed it up and over the bar.
Doucoure sent a couple of shots wide of the target, Etienne Capoue missed from range, and Okaka headed high and wide.
Watford suffered a blow a few minutes before half-time when former Sunderland defender Younes Kaboul pulled up sharply with a hamstring problem and had to be replaced by ex-Newcastle man Daryl Janmaat.
Just before the break, a Januzaj shot took a deflection which sent it a foot wide of the left-hand upright with Gomes scrambling to cover.
But Sunderland were almost caught out from the resulting corner as Watford broke through Amrabat down the right and he played the ball to Niang inside the area on the left, but Pickford got down to make another important stop.
Watford seized the initiative in the second half and made the breakthrough in the 59th minute.