SUNDERLAND CLIMBED OFF the bottom of the Premier League table with a 2-1 home win over arch-rivals Newcastle in the north-east derby.
Fabio Borini’s blistering 18-yard shot six minutes from time saw the Black Cats to a first league win of the season, following seven defeats and a draw, after Steven Fletcher’s fifth-minute header had given them the lead.
Victory gave Sunderland manager Gus Poyet a win in his first game in charge at the Stadium of Light, since replacing Paolo di Canio, but was not good enough to lift the Black Cats out of the bottom three.
Fans of the Wearside club will need no reminding that one of di Canio’s few successes during his tempestuous time in charge was a derby win over Newcastle but this result at least gave Sunderland hope of avoiding the drop. Poyet, who has now won 10 of his 17 matches against Newcastle as both player and manager, said it could change the course of Sunderland’s season.
“Everything is big today,” Poyet declared. “It’s a first win against our biggest rivals in our (his) first home game. The fans are going to be delighted and the players will be relieved. We needed this.
“When I saw four minutes added time, I nearly had a heart attack. Nothing is going to be easy, it’s about effort. (The introduction of Borini) was a moment when we needed to take risk. What a goal, the stadium nearly came down.”
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Poyet commented, “For teams in our situation, when you concede a goal the players would hold for a result. We were talking in the week about not stopping. Conceding goals happens, I’m still looking for a clean sheet and from here we need to build.”
“It gives us everything. We needed something. Now there are no excuses, we can go next week and win another game and continue to improve,” the Uruguayan added.
“This will change our season. I’m sure the players will be even more together and the fans will look forward to the next game. We have done nothing, it was nice for us and the fans but we need to keep winning games.”
Delighted Italy international Borini praised Poyet’s impact by saying: “Lots of the work we’ve done is because of him. He came in and gave us the enjoyment we needed and obviously the football. So now it’ll take a little bit of time to improve again, but that’s a great first step.”
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was left lamenting his side’s lack of concentration after the build-up to Borini’s goal saw the ball worked forward from a quickly-taken free-kick just inside Sunderland’s half.
“I thought we were the better team. We just switched off and he (Borini) has hit it true. We are really disappointed,” Pardew said.
