Sunderland 1 Fulham 0:IT HAS been a bleak midwinter on Wearside but there was a glimmer of brightness last night when Sunderland bagged a priceless goal courtesy of Kenwyne Jones, who yesterday signed a new four-and-a-half year contract with the Premier league strugglers .
Sunderland forced the early tempo and might have taken the lead had an onside Djibril Cisse proved equal to Andy Reid’s splendid, 35-yard left-foot delivery. The home side then had a shout for a penalty when Danny Murphy tripped Steed Malbranque just inside the area.
If Cisse’s pace meant the Wearsiders always had hope – and the striker did force Mark Schwarzer into a decent save – Andy Johnson offered home fans increasing cause for concern. Indeed, the Fulham forward should have done better than curl his effort wide after sneaking behind Danny Collins.
Jones finally manoeuvred himself space to score the opener in the 55th minute after Reid’s surging run to the edge of the area was halted by Etuhu. When the ball spun free it fell to Cisse whose parried effort fell conveniently for the Jones to lash into the net.
SUNDERLAND: Fulop, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Collins, McCartney (McShane 70), Malbranque, Whitehead, Tainio (Leadbitter 81), Reid (Edwards 75), Cisse, Jones. Subs not used: Colgan, Diouf, Chopra, Healy.
FULHAM: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies (Gera 76), Etuhu (Nevland 83), Murphy, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora. Subs not used: Zuberbuhler, Stoor, Andreasen, Kallio, Baird.
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).
