Sunderland 3, Birmingham City 1: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Mar 22 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
IF BLUES hadn’t been such slow starters, and if Craig Gordon hadn’t been beamed down from another planet, here would have been another notch in the win column.
But ifs and ands don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things; reality bites – and it bit Blues on the backside at the Stadium of Light.
In the face of adversity this season Blues have consistently stepped to the fore and responded in the right manner. They don’t slink away or feel sorry for themselves.
They did it again after being taken aback by an irresistible Sunderland opening.
It was as if Blues were being carpet bombed and searching for a rug to hide under.
But, from being two goals down, both scored by Darren Bent, inside 11 minutes, they roused slowly and finally came alive with an absolute roar in the second half.
But before them stood Gordon, who even put Joe Hart in the shade – not many do that – and then some.
Blues peppered the Black Cats’ goal with 26 attempts all afternoon, and Gordon made eight top-drawer saves. That is no exaggeration.
Sunderland added a flattering goal in the 88th minute, catching Blues on the break through Fraizer Campbell at the near post.
But Steve Bruce’s boys knew that they had seen the ‘real’ Blues after a lacklustre show in the Carling Cup in September from a shadow squad, and the decidedly average unit that couldn’t cope in the opening exchanges of what transpired to be an enthralling encounter on a muddy, heavy pitch.
There has to be concern that Blues didn’t get out of the traps quickly enough.
It happened against Everton the week before and Blues have allowed the opposition to take the initiative on other occasions, at Wigan Athletic, for example.
Alex McLeish denied it was a case of Blues not being on the right wavelength, or sleep-walking their way into the match.
“It actually wasn’t a poor start as such,” he said. “If you look at the kick-off and from then on, up until the goal, we started quite well.
“We passed it well, were assertive, confident. But basic errors let Sunderland in for the first goal and to score so quickly after that one was a kick in the guts.
“I just don’t think we defended well enough, it was slack play.”
