Sunderland picked up their first win of the Premier League season as they comprehensively defeated Stoke City 4-0 at home.
Black Cats garner first league win of season
Sunderland picked up their first win of the 2011/12 Premier League season as they comprehensively defeated Stoke City 4-0 at home on Sunday.
Titus Bramble gave the Black Cats the lead after just five minutes at the Stadium of Light and then an own goal from Jonathan Woodgate doubled the hosts' advantage in the 11th minute.
A deflected effort from Craig Gardner just before the half-hour mark found its way into the Stoke net as Steve Bruce's side went 3-0 up, and a brilliant free-kick from Sebastian Larsson in the early minutes of the second period rounded off a comfortable win.
Early goals
Perhaps fittingly on the day of the Great North Run, Bruce's insistence that the season was, to paraphrase, a half-marathon and not a sprint was borne out in style as his side made the most of early chances for the first time in the campaign.
They were helped in no small part by some uncharacteristically poor defending and a little good fortune. Sunderland had slipped to second bottom on Saturday, but they needed just five minutes to spot a route out of the mire.
Black Cats old boy Rory Delap could not cut out Larsson's corner at the near post and when the ball fell to Bramble, his low shot squirmed away from goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and trickled over the line to get the home side off to the perfect start.
Things got even better within six minutes when Woodgate, in his desperation to beat Nicklas Bendtner to David Vaughan's curling cross, could only head the ball over the stranded Begovic and into his own net.
Bruce's men were brimming with confidence, with Vaughan in particular justifying the manager's decision to leave skipper Lee Cattermole sitting on the bench.
No answer
A Stoke side featuring eight changes to the one which drew 1-1 in Dynamo Kiev in midweek looked strangely toothless, although Simon Mignolet had to pull off a fine one-handed save to claw Marc Wilson's 16th-minute free-kick out of his top corner.
But their hopes of launching a comeback were dealt a further blow with 28 minutes gone when Gardner collected Bendtner's pass and saw his shot loop up off Ryan Shawcross and sail over the stranded Begovic into the top corner.
Peter Crouch, who was jeered throughout by the home fans after rejecting Sunderland's advances for the second time last month, headed straight at Mignolet three minutes before the break.
But in the meantime, Stephane Sessegnon had forced a good save from Begovic and Larsson had volleyed wide with the home side totally dominant.
Stoke returned knowing they needed to reduce the deficit quickly but Matthew Etherington could not climb high enough after Crouch had headed Jon Walters' 49th-minute cross back across goal.
Goal of the match
And the game was effectively over nine minutes later when, after Sessegnon had been tripped by Robert Huth, Larsson dispatched the resulting free-kick from 20 yards with Begovic once again stranded.
The arrival of another pantomime villain in the shape of former Sunderland man Kenwyne Jones as a 61st minute replacement for Cameron Jerome gave the home fans further opportunity to raise their voices as the game ebbed tamely towards what was by now a foregone conclusion.
Bendtner might have added his name to the scoresheet with 11 minutes to go, but he failed to connect with the ball as he attempted to back-heel Kieran Richardson's cross past Begovic at the near post.
Crouch was guilty of a more glaring miss at the other end four minutes later when he could not get a touch with the goal at his mercy, much to the amusement of the home fans.
Begovic spared his side further punishment with a solid 89th-minute save from Gardner, but the damage had been done long before.
