Cats roar at Stadium of light. Kieran Richardson’s brace in the first half was all Sunderland needed to gain three valuable points in their race to stay in the Premiership. Sol Campbell made an uncharacteristic mental error when he gave up on a ball too early allowing Kenwyne Jones to keep it in and send it back in front of the goal. Richardson took it and put Roy’s boys up just after the half hour mark. Eleven minutes late he gave Suderland some breathing room when he pounded home a loose ball. He hit the crossbar later to just miss out on the hat-trick. This match was by no means one sided. Benjani Mwaruwari and Niko Kranjcar both had excellant chances to score, but Craig Gordon’s net remained unsullied.
Harry Redknapp was without Nwankwo Kanu, Papa Bouba Diop, Sulley Muntari and John Utaka who are all away on international duty at the African Nations Cup. When you recruit heavily in Africa though you can’t be surprised when your team is depleted during this tournament. I think that the uncertainty surrounding him as to whether he was headed north to Newcastle or not had to have had an unsettling effect on his side as well. Sunderland 2-0 Portsmouth.
Roberts’ late goal stuns Reebok. Bolton took the lead late in the first half with a sublime goal from Kevin Nolan. The Trotter’s forward lashed out at Joey O’Brien’s cross and a ball that looked like it was going to sail over the top right corner dipped down behind Brad Friedel’s back and into the net. Christopher Samba leveled the score in the 53rd with a header making Jussi Jaaskelainen’s uncertainty cost dearly. A gritty second half looked to be grinding to a well deserved draw, then Jason Roberts took the ball from the centre spot to the edge of the Bolton box and fired home a deflected shot past Jaaskelainen.
Roberts had requested a transfer and been turned down by Mark Hughes. If that’s what it takes to win, Hughes should get more of his players angry. That was a fantastic finish for Rovers. Bolton Wanderers 1-2 Blackburn Rovers.
