ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Portsmouth 3 Sunderland 1: THE NORTH-EAST will go into the final weekend in a collective state of panic.
Sunderland passed up the opportunity to preserve their top-flight status here last night, leading a contest they had to win to guarantee survival for barely a minute before subsiding beneath Portsmouth’s ruthless riposte. Within eight minutes they were sunk. They might not yet recover.
Only victory against Chelsea at the Stadium of Light on Sunday will ensure Wearside of Premier League football next term, with the anxiety that will grip Ricky Sbragia and his players mirrored by their neighbours on Tyne and Tees.
Yet Sunderland’s frustration will be all the more acute given the reality that they should have prevailed on the south coast. Chances were missed, Asmir Begovic denying Kenwyne Jones in the closing stages, yet Armand Traore’s fizzed finish two minutes from time confirmed that the agony was to be prolonged.
They had prised their hosts apart four times before the interval but each chance was spurned.
Yet Sunderland plucked the lead they had hitherto merited. Danny Collins swung over a cross that was missed by Sol Campbell in the centre for Jones to half-volley into the corner.
Pompey’s response was instant. Grant Leadbitter, panicked by Peter Crouch’s header, could only deflect the ball into John Utaka’s path who thrashed his first goal of the season into the far corner. The anxiety flooded back into the visiting ranks.
They duly subsided. Begovic’s punt down the centre was missed, ridiculously, by Anton Ferdinand for Utaka to gather. The Nigerian might have finished himself had Phil Bardsley not leaped in desperately to deflect the loose ball into the empty net.
Guardian Service
PORTSMOUTH:Begovic, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Utaka, Davis, Mullins, Hughes (Traore 46), Kanu (Kaboul 46), Crouch (Primus 90). Subs not used: Ashdown, Nugent, Basinas, Belhadj. Booked: Utaka.
SUNDERLAND: Fulop, Bardsley, Davenport, Ferdinand, Collins, Tainio (Cisse 80), Malbranque (Edwards 54), Whitehead, Leadbitter (Murphy 85), Richardson, Jones. Subs not used: Colgan, Reid, Healy, McShane.
Referee:Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).
