Bournemouth vs Sunderland. Premier League.
Vitality StadiumAttendance11,084.
Sunday 6 November 2016 08:01, UK
Sunderland ended their winless start to the Premier League season with a dramatic 2-1 win at Bournemouth despite having a man sent off.
With David Moyes serving a one-game touchline ban, Sunderland fell behind to Dan Gosling's goal but Victor Anichebe levelled things up, scoring his first league goal for 546 days.
Things looked bleak for under-pressure Moyes with 30 minutes remaining when Steven Pienaar was shown a second yellow card but Jermain Defoe scored from the penalty spot on 74 minutes.
Bournemouth threw everything at the visitors in the closing stages, but goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and his back four stood strong to give the North East club a huge victory.
The win moves Sunderland level on five points with Swansea, but they remain bottom on goal difference.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher labelled Lamine Kone's performance in the 4-1 defeat against Arsenal "not acceptable", but he was not one of three changes made by Moyes, who was watching this game from the stands after accepting a misconduct charge.
Papy Djilobodji, Paddy McNair and Anichebe replaced John O'Shea, Jack Rodwell and Whabi Khazri while Eddie Howe was without Andrew Surman and Callum Wilson, who were both missing with minor knocks.
Gosling had a chance to impress in Surman's absence and struck to give his team the lead on 11 minutes.
Patrick van Aanholt went to sleep and Adam Smith took full advantage of the space. He sprinted down the right flank before sending a ball into the area, which was turned in from close range by the former Everton man.
Bournemouth were carving Sunderland open every time they went forward and Pickford had to be alert to block a Josh King effort after Van Aanholt had switched off again.
However, the visitors carried a threat of their own and levelled the match on 33 minutes.
Anichebe, on his first start in the Premier League for Sunderland, showed great strength to hold off Simon Francis in the box and he kept his composure to smash home from an acute angle.
With the game in the balance, Pienaar lost his head.
Already on a booking for a foul on Jack Wilshere, the Sunderland man made a rash, dangerous tackle on Junior Stanislas right in front of referee Mike Dean, who was left with no option but to send off Pienaar.
From then on, it was backs against the wall for Sunderland as Howe's men pinned the visitors back. It seemed only a matter of time before they would regain the lead, but Wilshere missed from close range on 66 minutes after a neat one-two with Stanislas.
However, with Moyes probably fearing for his job, the 10-men scored an unlikely winner.
The all-action Anichebe burst into the box and Smith hauled him down just as he was about to shoot.
Defoe stepped up and, despite the pressurised situation, he kept his cool to fire powerfully into the net.
Sunderland then defended their box with a determination that had been missing in the opening 10 matches.
Bournemouth created plenty of openings, but the ball seemed to break Sunderland's way in crucial situations.
When a chance did fall for the hosts, Pickford was there to clear up.
With two minutes left, Stanislas hammered a shot from 15 yards that was heading for the top corner until Pickford diverted the effort wide of the post with a spectacular one-handed save.
Player Ratings
Bournemouth: Boruc (6), Smith (5), Francis (6), Cook (6), Daniels (6), Gosling (6), Arter (6), Wilshere (5), Ibe (6), King (6), Stanislas (6)
Subs: Afobe (6), Fraser (6)
Sunderland: Pickford (8), Jones (7), van Aanholt (5), Djilobodji (6), Kone (7), Pienaar (4), McNair (6), Ndong (6), Watmore (7), Anichebe (9), Defoe (7)
Subs: Denayer (7), Gooch (6), Love (6)
Man of the match: Victor Anichebe
