Black Cats back on track

Sunderland 2 Reading 1: Sunderland marked the passing of FA Cup hero Ian Porterfield in fitting style to end a run of four defeats with a confident victory over Reading.

On an afternoon when minds were cast back to 1973 — 10 of the Wembley heroes were at the Stadium of Light — the class of 2007 served up a commanding display to see off last season's Barclays Premier League surprise package with relative ease.

Eyebrows were raised when manager Roy Keane paid Southampton £6million for striker Kenwyne Jones, but he capped a fine home debut with a superb 29th-minute strike to set his side on their way, and then provided the cross from which Ross Wallace made it 2-0 two minutes after the break.

The margin of victory would have been more comfortable had either Jones or Wallace made the most of gilt-edged chances which came their way either side of half-time.

However, after going four games without a single goal, two were more than enough to kill off a poor Royals side on the day despite Dave Kitson's late consolation effort.

In the run-up to the game, Keane had insisted the best possible tribute his players could pay to former Reading player and manager Porterfield would be to secure three points, and they set about their task with relish.

Jones had already drilled in a long-range effort which caused Hahnemann some discomfort when he opened his Sunderland account with a superb 29th-minute strike.

Leadbitter was the architect as he served the ball up on the edge of the area for the former Saints hitman to smash a left-foot shot past the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Jones might have doubled his tally with a header which he directed just wide two minutes later, but should have done four minutes before the break.

Wallace twisted and turned his way into space on the left to pick out Jones at the far post, but with the goal at his mercy, he headed firmly into the ground and saw the ball rear up and over the bar.

Jones took little time to atone for his earlier miss when, less than two minutes after the restart, he danced into space on the right before drilling in a cross which eluded Michael Chopra, but arrived at Wallace's feet with perfect timing for the Scot to make it 2-0.

Dave Kitson saw an 80th-minute shot deflected over the bar as Reading sought consolation, and that duly arrived five minutes later when he glanced home a Nicky Shorey cross to set up an anxious conclusion for the home side.