Ba’s goal hands Cats huge win in search of a play-off place
NORWICH CITY 0
SUNDERLAND 1
Sunderland breathed new life into their Championship campaign with an outstanding win away at Norwich City.
Abdoullah Ba’s early goal gave the Black Cats a lead to defend and they did that with relish, limiting Norwich City to only a handful of half chances despite gifting up the vast majority of the ball through the second half.
It was a superb physical and mental effort from a squad down the bare bones, and now back within striking distance of the top six.
It had looked a tall order for Sunderland coming into the game, their already lengthy injury list extended even further when Amad and Alex Pritchard were ruled out with minor injuries.
An inexperienced side accepted from the early stages that they would not have a great amount of possession, but to their credit they pressed aggressively and created real openings.
Gelhardt had two early efforts in an open game, with Pukki and Aarons going close at the other end.
Sunderland took the lead with an excellent effort, Roberts teeing up Gelhardt who found Ba with an early pass.
From there it was all about the midfielder’s quality, shifting the ball onto his left foot and arrowing a superb low drive into the far corner.
The youngster was pushing up close to Gelhardt whenever possible and bringing the Leeds United loanee to life. he had a glorious opportunity when Neil sprung him clear in the box, but he could only fire his effort straight at Gunn.
It was a huge chance, and another one went begging shortly afterwards when Batth struggled to connect with a free header.
Sunderland were dominant and the home fans restless, but the game then began to settle into a more expected pattern as Wagner’s side controlled possession – albeit without any major chances before the break.
Norwich continued to control possession after the interval but is was the visitors who were creating the better chances, Roberts proving an outstanding outlet on the break.
Twice Clarke was denied well, first by a good covering challenge and then latterly by a strong Gunn stop.
A raft of yellow cards, albeit some of them harsh in the extreme, underlined the tiring legs in the Sunderland side as the half developed. The lack of depth in the squad was always going to cause them problems during this phase of the game and Norwich looked far the stronger, though entering the final ten minutes they had still yet to really test Patterson.
The home support were understandably left incensed when Sara appeared to play Sargent through on goal at the start of six minutes stoppage time, only for the referee to pull the play back for a foul by Ekwah.
It was a bad error, but in truth Norwich had offered nowhere near enough with the ball they had, and the Black Cats fully deserved the points.
It was backs to the wall at times, but it was also a vindication for Mowbray’s selection and counter-attacking strategy that worked to a tee.
Three hugely challenging fixtures await but Sunderland are back up and running.
Tony Mowbray’s side bounced back from a painful 5-1 home defeat to Stoke as Abdoullah Ba’s well taken 15th-minute goal settled an entertaining encounter at Carrow Road, leaving the Black Cats five points off the play-off spots.
Norwich, who would have gone back into the top six with a win, dominated the game for long spells, especially in the second half, but struggled to create clear-cut openings, with some excellent defending keeping them largely at arm’s length.
The Canaries had two good chances to grab an early lead, with goalkeeper Anthony Patterson doing well to thwart Max Aarons after the right-back had stolen in at the back post and then grabbing a low drive through a crowded box from Marcelino Nunez.
But the visitors, who had also seen plenty of the ball, were the ones to break the deadlock.
Some poor defending allowed Joe Gelhardt to slide in a pass to Ba and the midfielder burst forward and, from just outside the area, beat Angus Gunn with a well struck shot into the bottom corner.
Sunderland should have gone two up a couple of minutes later when Gelhardt broke the offside trap and ran through, but with defenders on his heels he could only shoot straight at Gunn, who made a smart reaction stop.
Norwich regained their composure as the half wore on but the best effort they could manage was a deflected long-range effort from Kenny McLean, which was comfortably saved by Patterson.
The hosts started the second half looking as though they meant business and Sunderland were grateful for a brave block when Gabriel Sara fired a powerful drive goalwards after 54 minutes.
Gunn then fisted away a 20-yard snap shot from Jack Clarke as the Black Cats continued to threaten but it was Norwich who were now dictating proceedings, with Patterson doing well to grab Teemu Pukki’s crisply struck volley.
David Wagner’s side laid siege to the Sunderland goal in the latter stages but could find no way through a well drilled defence.