Sunderland - 2 Bolton Wanderers - 0:SOCCER/English FA Cup third round replay: Extra-time goals from Julio Arca and Michael Proctor last night belatedly fired Sunderland into an English FA Cup fourth round with Blackburn.
The Argentinian struck eight minutes into the first period of extra-time and Proctor doubled his side's advantage within a minute to see off Bolton.
In front of a crowd of 14,550, which reflected these two clubs' lack of appetite for the FA Cup this season, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers delivered a match it appeared neither wanted to win.
If the opposite of the magic of the Cup is grim realism then this was it. A combination of attacking incompetence, stubborn defence and a priority list headed by Premiership survival meant that it was 67 minutes before Bolton had a true shot on goal and 81 minutes before the Bolton goalkeeper, Kevin Poole, made a save of real drama from a sharp shot from Sean Thornton.
Extra-time had long felt an inevitability and, when Kevin Nolan failed to take a late chance and Poole saved a header from the Sunderland substitute Proctor, it duly came.
Given their plight in the league table that was the last thing either manager wanted for their under-pressure squads.
Two clubs haunted by the thought of Premiership relegation sent out shadow teams. Bolton could be said to have taken the match and the competition more seriously, given the appearance of Nolan, Youri Djorkaeff and Ivan Campo, though Campo's early contributions were decidedly casual.
His manager, Sam Allardyce, certainly thought so, lambasting the Spaniard for two dalliances that almost led to breakthroughs for the lumbering Kevin Kyle. With neither Kevin Phillips nor Tore Andre Flo even on the bench, Kyle partnered Marcus Stewart up front.
But it was the midfield where the sparse Sunderland fans found most interest. Peter Reid signed the Argentinian Nicolas Medina for £3.5 million 18 months ago, when Sunderland were buoyed and young men like Medina were seen as part of an adventurous future. Medina, though, disappeared with Sunderland's optimism. This was his first senior start. He will be 21 next month.
Delicate of frame, Medina found himself opposite Stig Tofting. Perhaps as a consequence it was another Sunderland debutant, Thornton, who made the greater initial impression. Signed by Reid from Tranmere Rovers for £200,000 last summer, he provided neat touches and an inswinging third-minute corner that Kyle headed wide.
That was the first of several home chances that were racked up in the opening half-hour. Yet Poole in the Bolton goal made only one serious save in that period when the 39-year-old tipped away a Kyle blast from 20 yards.
Poole's opposite number, Thomas Sorensen, was rather less busy. But Sorensen can be a complacent individual and was fortunate that a ninth-minute fumble of a Djorkaeff corner bounced a couple of inches over his crossbar.
Other than that Wanderers offered nothing going forward and were lucky that, in Kyle, Sunderland had a striker who kept finding Poole. In first-half injury-time Stewart sent in an inviting cross from the left but Kyle, unmarked seven yards out, was still at it, heading straight at Poole.
To say the game could have done with a goal then is understatement. Bolton for a start would have been provoked into reaction.
The visitors did make a change at half-time, Nolan moving up front in place of the ineffective Delroy Facey.
Facey, though, would have surely done better when a Jeff Smith cross came off Emerson Thome and fell to Nolan.
It was, as before, high on energy, low on end product. Thornton on the right and Arca on the left did what they could to stimulate their team-mates, but Bolton, for all their inability to create, were proving obdurate in defence.
Guardian Service
BOLTON: Poole, Smith, N'Gotty, Campo, Whitlow, Mendy (Hunt 80), Farrelly (Walters 62), Nolan, Tofting, Facey (Warhurst 45), Djorkaeff. Subs Not Used: Jaaskelainen, Bulent.
Referee: N Barry (Lincolnshire).
After extra time
SUNDERLAND: Sorensen, Williams, Thome, Bjorklund (Varga 60), Gray (Proctor 66), Arca, Medina (McCartney 90), McCann, Thornton, Stewart, Kyle. Subs Not Used: Macho, Oster. Goals: Arca 99, Proctor 100.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)