Premier League
August 15, 2009
Bolton Wanderers
0 - 1
Sunderland
Premier League
15:00 BST, August 15, 2009
Reebok Stadium, England
Referee: A Marriner
Bent makes his mark
Scoring Summary
| Bolton Wanderers | Sunderland |
|---|---|
| Darren Bent (5') |
Teams
| Bolton Wanderers | Sunderland |
|---|---|
| 22 Jussi Jaaskelainen | 32 Marton Fulop |
| 12 Zat Knight | 5 Anton Ferdinand |
| 5 Gary Cahill | 15 Danny Collins |
| 4 Paul Robinson | 3 George McCartney |
| 18 Samuel Ricketts | 2 Phillip Bardsley |
| 6 Fabrice Muamba | 39 Lee Cattermole |
| 23 Sean Davis | 19 Lorik Cana |
| 7 Matthew Taylor | 10 Kieran Richardson |
| 19 Gavin McCann | 8 Steed Malbranque |
| 9 Johan Elmander | 17 Kenwyne Jones |
| 14 Kevin Davies | 11 Darren Bent |
| Substitutes | |
| 3 Jlloyd Samuel | Nyron Nosworthy 6 |
| 31 Andrew O'Brien | David Healy 23 |
| 26 Ali Al Habsi | Carlos Edwards 7 |
| 21 Tamir Cohen | Craig Gordon 1 |
| 27 Lee Chung-Yong | Grant Leadbitter 18 |
| 16 Mark Davies | Fraizer Campbell 9 |
| 33 Daniel Ward | Jordan Henderson 16 |
| Substitutions | |
| Lee Chung-Yong for Gavin McCann (68) | Jordan Henderson for Steed Malbranque (45) |
| Daniel Ward for Johan Elmander (83) | Fraizer Campbell for Kieran Richardson (77) |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Fabrice Muamba (65) | Fraizer Campbell (85) |
| Sean Davis (67) | |
| · Squads: Bolton Wanderers | Sunderland | |
Darren Bent finally did his talking on the pitch with a superb debut goal to hand Sunderland a 1-0 victory over Premier League rivals Bolton.
The £10m signing from Tottenham dispatched Steed Malbranque's cross with a brilliant far-post header in the fifth minute to give new Black Cats boss Steve Bruce a winning start to his reign.
Bent, 25, recently made the headlines for the wrong reasons after he used the Twitter website to publicly criticise Tottenham and express his desire to join Sunderland.
Eventually granted his move to Wearside, the England international looked well and truly at home in the red and white of Sunderland.
Dovetailing effectively with Kenwyne Jones throughout, Bent's pace was a constant threat to the Bolton backline and he was unlucky not to add to his tally.
With new recruits Lee Cattermole and Lorik Cana also making impressive debuts in midfield, Sunderland totally dominated the first half and could conceivably been at least 3-0 up at the break.
Jussi Jaaskelainen denied both Bent and Kieran Richardson and other opportunities came and were spurned.
Yet Sunderland's 5,500-strong army of travelling supporters headed back to Wearside confident that fights with relegation are a thing of the past.
The Black Cats finished fifth bottom last season with a pitiful points tally of 36 after a miserable campaign.
The appointment of Bruce, and the significant funds he has subsequently spent, has encouraged hopes that Sunderland can push for a top-10 finish this season.
His men were certainly too good for Bolton, who were booed off at half-time and again at the final whistle after looking impotent in attack for long periods.
Sam Ricketts, Paul Robinson, Zat Knight and Sean Davis all made their debuts for the Trotters following their arrivals from Hull, West Brom, Aston Villa and Portsmouth respectively.
Yet Sunderland were soon celebrating as they opened the scoring inside the fifth minute with a classic header from Bent.
George McCartney found Malbranque in the left channel and he flighted in a wicked cross to the far post, where Bent rose above Robinson to plant a firm header past Jaaskelainen.
The visiting fans celebrated wildly but they were almost silenced moments later when Fabrice Muamba sliced a fierce 20-yard shot wide of Marton Fulop's goal.
Yet Jones collected possession in the eighth minute and drove a thunderous shot goalwards that Bolton fans were relieved to see deflected out for a corner.
Cattermole seemed to cover every blade of grass for the visitors and twice within the space of as many minutes Sunderland could have scored.
In the 20th minute Bent and Malbranque combined to send Richardson clear through on goal but Jaaskelainen raced off his line to parry the midfielder's left-foot shot from 14 yards.
Sunderland pressed again moments later when a vicious low cross from Richardson found Bent at the far post and he swivelled before driving a low left-foot shot inches wide of the far post with Jaaskelainen beaten.
Jones then headed over from 12 yards out and in the 25th minute Bent played a delightful one-two with Malbranque before drawing another fine save from Jaaskelainen with a low drive.
Bolton's best hope seemed to be a long punt up to Kevin Davies or Johan Elmander but Sunderland's centre-back pairing of Anton Ferdinand and Danny Collins never looked in any serious trouble.
In the 40th minute, Bent raced onto a lofted pass from Richardson and clipped the ball over Jaaskelainen but just wide of the post as Bolton breathed again.
Fulop was finally tested on the stroke of half-time when Matt Taylor's inswinging corner was headed goalwards by Gary Cahill, but his close-range header was repelled by Fulop's instinct save.
Bolton handed a debut to South Korea midfielder Chung-Yong Lee a debut in the 67th minute when he replaced former Sunderland midfielder Gavin McCann.
Elmander then drilled a wicked cross-shot just wide of Fulop's goal a minute later as Sunderland continued to hold firm.
Campbell came off the bench to replace the injured Richardson in the 76th minute, but Bent and Jones continued to spearhead the attack.
Fulop emerged the hero in injury-time when Davis drove goalwards from 14 yards but saw the Sunderland goalkeeper deny him with a brilliant parried save.
The £10m signing from Tottenham superbly dispatched Steed Malbranque's cross in the fifth minute to give Bruce a winning start to his reign.
Bent, 25, recently made the headlines for the wrong reasons after he used the social networking site Twitter to publicly criticise Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy at what he saw as the lack of progress over his transfer to Black Cats.
Bruce said: "It's great when your centre-forward gets off the mark after five minutes. It was a great header and all that hard work that the chairman (Niall Quinn) has put in, with hours of negotiations by everybody concerned, has paid off.
"It was well worth it, not just for his goal but his appetite and his work-rate. That's what got the deal over the line in the end - the boy's desire to come and play for us.''
With new recruits Lee Cattermole and Lorik Cana also making impressive debuts in midfield, Sunderland totally dominated the first half and could conceivably been at least 3-0 up at the break.
Bruce added: "You all know what I think of Cattermole. He gave an outstanding performance, especially in the first half. He's only been here three days but you'd think he's been three years with the way he played.
"He's an outstanding talent and I'm delighted we've been able to get him.
"I'm absolutely delighted with the win but we made hard work of it in the end because we should have been out of sight. I knew we had to get the second because they could have scored right at the death, but overall I'm very pleased.''
Yet Sunderland's 5,500-strong army of travelling supporters headed back to Wearside confident that fights with relegation are a thing of the past. The Black Cats finished fifth bottom last season with a pitiful points tally of 36 after a miserable campaign.
The appointment of Bruce, and the significant funds he has subsequently spent, has encouraged hopes that Sunderland can push for a top-10 finish this season.
Bruce, who reported injuries to Steed Malbranque (ankle) and Richardson (dead leg), added: "It's a good start but that's all it is. "The big thing for me was the supporters in times of recession. We brought 5,500 and that was wonderful to see.''
Sunderland were certainly too good for Bolton, who were toothless in attack for long periods.
Gary Megson said: "In the second half we were on the front foot and much more committed.
"If we'd done that in the first half we would probably have got a better result, I would think. We were sluggish and the biggest disappointment was that we spoke on Thursday about set-pieces and how important they are at every level in football.
"We scored 14 goals from set-pieces last year, which was nearly a third of the amount of goals we scored, and we defended 74 wide free-kicks and didn't concede a goal. We've done that within five minutes today. It was a great header and leap from Bent, but our defending was nowhere near what I'd expect in such a critical area.''