Stoke City 1, Sunderland 0

Aug 31 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NO pain no gain, so the old saying goes – and Steve Bruce will be hoping there is a huge pay-out pending after fragile Sunderland were again bashed up by merciless Stoke City.

Bruce is attempting to raise the bar at the Stadium of Light but it came crashing down on him at the Britannia – his decision to opt for Nyron Nosworthy over Potteries-bound Danny Collins unsettling a defence that was unconvincing from the first minute to the last.

Given the manager’s barely concealed anger in his post-match exchanges with the Press, it would be no surprise if Sunderland lined up with an entirely different back four when Hull visit Wearside next month.

Nosworthy – the subject of unsettling interest from Portsmouth – set the tone by dangerously misjudging a high ball in the opening minutes of this predictably feisty clash, and it was a theme revisited by Anton Ferdinand with alarming regularity.

The £8m defender’s weak header that nearly let in bleach-blond former Black Cat Liam Lawrence was the pick of a catalogue of errors from a Sunderland back-line who were architects of their own downfall on occasion. But, disappointing as the displays of their two centre-halves were, the Sunderland defence is an easy and all too convenient scapegoat for a collective performance that was desperately poor.

Because Sunderland were not just out-muscled by Stoke, they were out-played as well by a team assembled for a fraction of the money invested on turning the Black Cats into a genuine Premier League heavyweight.

After last week’s brilliance, new skipper Lorik Cana and his hitherto flawless midfield colleague Lee Cattermole failed to get into the game when Sunderland should have been kicking on in the second half.

The two wide men looked isolated and ineffective, too, and red hot strike pairing Darren Bent and Kenwyne Jones were decidedly tepid – squandering the few chances that came their way.