Match report: Sunderland 1 Middlesbrough 1
GOAL JOY ... Fraizer Campbell celebrates his FA Cup strike.
THE spectre of Brian Clough hovered unexpectedly large over this cup tie between his two former clubs.
His memory was invoked by former Nottingham Forest midfielder Martin O’Neill, who recalled that ‘old Big Ead’ had won everything but the FA Cup in his trophy-laden career – just like O’Neill himself.
O’Neill also recalled that one of Clough’s greatest regrets in football was that he never managed Sunderland.
On the day of the game Roy Keane, another former Clough disciple – making his first return to the Stadium of Light since his 2008 walkout – reinforced the connections between the old master and the Mackems.
They were links which seemed somewhat irrelevant given the fact that Clough eventually turned his back on the Sunderland job he once said he would have crawled over broken glass for.
But in one unintentional respect they were utterly appropriate.
Clough’s career was ended by a cruciate ligament suffered almost exactly 50 years ago this month. He was to soldier on for two years hoping to recapture the fitness which had seen him established as one of the most prolific English forwards of all time, but in the event managed only three more games before having to accept retirement.
Yesterday, in contrast to Clough’s time, Fraizer Campbell offered a reminder of how much football has advanced and changed in the preceding half-century.
The former England Under-21 man has suffered not one, but two serious cruciate ligament injuries, yet his return yesterday after a 17-month first-team absence was not about lost pace and athleticism, but the quality of modern-day medical science which means careers can be successfully resumed after the sort of injuries which forced Clough to hang up his boots.
Campbell was introduced as a half-time replacement for completely ineffectual striker Connor Wickham, and instead of easing his way gingerly back into the side produced a front-line performance of mobility, pace and dynamism culminating in the equalising goal which took this game into a replay.
The writing had been on the wall – or the teamsheet – from the start when Lee Cattermole was one of two changes to the Sunderland side which defeated Swansea on its last outing.
Having pulled up with a hamstring strain the day before, his place was taken in midfield by Craig Gardner who failed to show the sort of form which would bolster his claims for a first-team start. The other change was Wickham in for the injured Nicklas Bendtner, and the teenage forward found it tough going for from the start as a fired-up Boro side battled and snapped at the heels of their hosts.
The Teessiders were the better side from the start, winning the midfield battle and making the most of the woeful distribution of Sunderland’s centre-halves who repeatedly punted the ball aimlessly forward.
Up front, Stephane Sessegnon was to prove a thorn in the visitors’ sides, every time he received the ball, but he did not receive the ball often enough and alongside him Wickham cut a frustratingly anonymous figure.
And Boro deservedly took the lead just after the quarter-hour through a spectacular finish from Robson.
Stand-in skipper John O’Shea gave possession away cheaply, allowing Lukas Jutkiewicz to intercept, feed Haroun on the right and the Belgian’s cross was not cleared well enough by the former Manchester United man again – this time the ball dropping to Robson, who hit a first-time left-foot volley across Simon Mignolet from 15 yards.
Far from sparking a backlash from the Wearsiders, Sunderland just could not get going, though they had the ball in the back of the net in the 38th minute through Gardner, who took down Kieran Richardson’s cross from the left with his hands before driving a low shot across Danny Coyne, only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.
But the key moment of the half proved to be a miss from the visitors on the stroke of half-time when they seemed certain to score.
Richardson gave the ball away near the halfway line, Haroun fed Jutkiewicz, whose shot from 15 yards was parried by Mignolet back into the danger area only for the two Boro men to miscue efforts on the follow-up to a virtually open goal. Sunderland had simply not been imposing enough, and O’Neill reacted by taking off the anonymous Wickham and giving Campbell his first appearance since August 2010.
The game was turned on its head though just before the hour when Sunderland overcame the setback of Wes Brown limping off with knee damage by equalising seconds later.
Match report: Sunderland 2 Swansea 0
Robson intercepted a pass and tried to usher the ball back into his own half, only to play it straight to McClean.
The Irishman surged down the channel and produced a pin-point perfect pass inside to Campbell, who didn’t need to break stride as he side-footed into the bottom right-hand corner of Coyne’s goal from 16 yards.
The game opened up into a full-blooded derby in the final half-hour with both sides battling hard, maintaining their momentum and having chances.
Emnes fired over the bar from 16 yards, Sunderland replied through David Vaughan, whose deflected shot popped up into the gloves of Coyne.
Sessegnon drove a shot wide, while Campbell went close with a 72nd minute.
Boro raised their game in the final quarter of an hour, but the nearest either side came to adding to their score came in time added on after the 90 when McLean drove a left-foot shot into the outside side netting of the Teessiders’ goal.
For Sunderland, it was something of a let off.
Far too many players were below par in what was the side’s poorest display under Martin O’Neill.
But they live to fight again.
SUNDERLAND: Mignolet 6; Bardsley 7, O’Shea 5, Brown 5 (Turner 60, 6), Richardson 5; Larsson 5, Gardner 6, Vaughan 5 (Colback 80, 5), McClean 8; Sessegnon 7, Wickham 4 (Campbell 46, 8). Subs not used: Westwood, Meyler, Elmohamady, Ji.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Coyne 6 (Ripley 80, 6), McMahon 6, Bates 7, Hines 6, Hoyte 5, Williams 6, Emnes 6, Haroun 6, ROBSON 7, McDonald 6, Jutkiewicz 7. Subs not used: Bennett, Williams, Martin, Park, Main, Smallwood.
Man of the match: Fraizer Campbell. Transformed Sunderland as attacking force and showed tremendous character scoring in his first senior game back in 17 months.
Highlight: What else but Fraizer Campbell’s wonderfully well-taken comeback goal? A great flowing move, and the joy and relief on the striker’s face was the abiding memory of the game.
Lowlight: Sunderland’s jittery, rushed, uncertain cup performance was in complete contrast to the confident, assured displays they’ve produced in the league since Martin O’ Neill’s arrival.
Scorers: Robson 16, Campbell 59.
Bookings: Hoyte 44, Richardson 45, Williams 70.
Ref: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
Att: 33,275.
Twitter: @shieldsgazsport
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