English FA Premiership/ Manchester City 2 Sunderland 1: Statistical records aside, and Sunderland seem certain to set a few, there can never have been a Premiership team with such a capacity for self-destruction.

Painfully ordinary in every other respect - though there were short passages yesterday when they might almost have been called competent - they start each game knowing that at some stage individuals will commit howlers that would make a 10-year-old hang his head in shame.

Three stood out in this match, though the final total must have been close to double figures. Danny Collins, a Wales international, was the first to offend when he collected a pass from his goalkeeper Kelvin Davis in the ninth minute. It was not the firmest of passes, but Collins had plenty of time to clear before being closed down by Georgios Samaras. Apparently under the impression he was John Charles, Collins tried to fool Samaras with a drag back, got caught in possession, and watched as the young Greek striker thumped a right-footed drive past Davis.

Gary Breen, older and more experienced, might have been expected to know better. A minute later, however, the Sunderland captain was the dawdler playing Trevor Sinclair onside when Claudio Reyna's long diagonal ball picked out the winger's run down the right. Sinclair's cross reached Samaras, whose crisp low left-footed volley gave Davis no chance.

It is to their credit that having given City a two-goal start, his team should then play well enough over the next 80 minutes to pull a goal back and put City under some pressure, especially in the second half. Kevin Kyle pulled one back and they might have got the equaliser their pressure threatened to bring in the final few minutes had Breen not had another brainstorm, reaching up with both hands to block when David James was attempting to throw the ball out of his penalty area. A second yellow card was inevitable. "Ridiculous," said their manager Mick McCarthy, shaking his head.