The victory was the
Baggies’ fourth consecutive league win, leaving them just five points behind
leaders Manchester United.
A 3-1 success at
Fulham last weekend was Sunderland first league victory since September and the
Black Cats were soon on the front foot again, Adam Johnson forced a good, early
save from Boaz Myhill.
A rather subdued
Stephan Sessegnon had tormented Fulham’s back four after a fairly low-key start
to the season, the Sunderland midfielder seemed intent on inflicting similar
punishment on a West Brom side bolstered by the meaningful presence of Jonas
Olsson.
Sessegnon’s volley
brought another good save from Myhill midway through the first half as the
hosts continued to search for an opener.
In Peter Odemwingie,
the Baggies have a striker full of confidence having scored three times in his
last two games.
But Odemwingie turned
provider for West Brom’s opener on the half hour, the striker setting up Zoltan
Gera, who fired past Simon Mignolet to give the visitors the lead.
Despite their
wonderful start to the season, Steve Clarke’s side had only recorded their
first away win last time out at Wigan.
Mignolet helped them
towards securing their second just before half time, gifting Shane Long a tap
in after fumbling Chris Brunt’s over hit through pass.
The Belgian Keeper’
partly repaired some of the earlier damage, denying Long a second just after
the restart.
With Albion unable to
kill the game, Sunderland remained hopeful of a fight back. The introduction of
Louis Saha gave greater support to the isolated figure of Steven Fletcher.
A deflected Craig
Gardner free kick brought Sunderland back to within touching distance, with a
quarter of an hour remaining.
Sessegnon’s diverted
strike drifted just wide, with the Stadium of Light crowd sensing a second half
comeback.
Adam’s Johnson’s
apparent trip on Liam Ridgewell dampened the mood, with Romelu Lukaku scoring
from the spot to restore the Baggies two goal advantage.
A rather frenetic
last 10 minutes ensued, Sessegnon followed up Fletcher’s well saved header to
rekindle hope with five minutes left.
But substitute Marc
Antoine Fortune sealed the victory deep into stoppage time, coolly slotting
beyond Mignolet to secure the Baggies fourth straight Premier League win.
Manager Clarke
reflected positively on his side’s well deserved victory, believing the Baggies
were good value for the win.
He said: “We deserve
credit it’s a big challenge to win four matches in a row.
The personality of
the players was the best thing from today, we passed the ball and played very
well.”However Clarke also feels the penalty decision that went for his side was a touch fortunate.
He added: “It looks
as though on reflection the penalty was fortuitous, but no-one can say we didn’t
deserve to win.”
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