Impressive show of resilience from Cats
Sport Writer RESILIENCE is a theme Chris Coleman has returned to time and again in his first three weeks in charge at Sunderland.
That was hardly surprising given he inherited a team which had one of the worst defensive records in the Championship and had not kept a clean sheet in the league in 21 attempts.
If he was to make any headway on Wearside he had to find a way of plugging the leaks.
The first sign of progress came with a clean sheet in the win at Burton Albion a fortnight ago, although it was tempered by the fact Sunderland were up against one of the lowest scorers in the division.
Holding out against league leaders Wolves at Molineux was a much greater achievement.
Not only had Wolves won six in a row, and nine out of their last ten in the league, they are also the Championship’s top scorers - and no-one had managed to prevent them scoring on home turf this season.
That Sunderland did so despite playing with ten men for half an hour following Lee Cattermole’s red card made it all the more impressive.
Coleman had switched to play with three centre-backs against Wolves and, while his predecessor Simon Grayson tried that system many times without success, it worked a treat against Wolves - keeping them at arm’s length for an hour.
Cattermole’s idiotic dismissal - which saw him collect two bookings in less than a minute - could so easily have derailed things.
In the previous game against Reading, Callum McManaman’s red card tipped the balance and the Black Cats crumbled.
Yet this time they dug in and showed the kind of character Coleman knows his side will need if it is to climb out of the relegation zone and reach safety.
With a man advantage Wolves subjected Sunderland to a barrage which they survived only through defensive organisation, players putting their bodies on the line to make blocks, and because Robbin Ruiter produced two important saves late in the game.
On a day in which relegation rivals Burton, Birmingham City, and Bolton Wanderers all lost, it meant the point Sunderland earned saw them gain rather than lose ground. Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole (right) is sent off by referee Jeremy Simpson
They remain next to bottom but are now just a point behind Birmingham and Bolton - and with by far the best goal difference of all the teams in the bottom four.
Four points and two clean sheets from Coleman’s three away games in charge is evidence Sunderland are making steps in the right direction under the new manager.
Now they must back it up with results at home, with backto-back games against Fulham and Birmingham City coming up at the Stadium of Light before Christmas.