Sunderland 2 - 3 C PalaceBenteke strikes in injury time to give Crystal Palace win at Sunderland
Home team scorersJermain Defoe 39
Jermain Defoe 60
Away team scorersJoe Ledley 61
James McArthur 76
Christian Benteke 90 +3:33
David Moyes has likened managing Sunderland variously to fighting a series of raging bush fires and captaining a ship navigating stormy seas. The flames have just become significantly more ferocious and the waters appreciably choppier. At the end of an afternoon in which his side squandered a two-goal lead, Christian Benteke’s headed stoppage-time winner for Crystal Palace ensured Sam Allardyce’s successor has taken only one point from six Premier League games.
Presented with an awful hand by Ellis Short, Sunderland’s owner who failed to properly address long-standing recruitment needs this summer, it is not Moyes’s fault that his squad is sub-standard and his team already look Championship bound.
Extreme defensive negligence left Sunderland occupying the division’s bottom place and Alan Pardew celebrating a third successive league win. “I’m disappointed,” said Moyes, not for the first time this season. “I didn’t think we’d played well enough to be 2-0 up, I was going to take it but we deserve to be bottom because we’re not good enough. We’re not doing enough defensively. It’s our fault. The players need to stand up and take responsibility. It’s not all down to me and my staff; they have to assume some responsibility.”
The first half was mainly about sustained Palace pressure, nervous Sunderland defending and unimaginative final visiting balls. Then, suddenly, and completely against the run of play, Jermain Defoe very nearly scored.
Defensively suspect but much more impressive going forward, Patrick van Aanholt sheared his way down Palace’s right and his low cross was met by Defoe, whose adroit flick looked destined for the bottom corner before being deflected inches wide.
Failing to heed this warning, Palace promptly gifted the former England striker a goal. Under pressure from Adnan Januzaj, Joe Ledley attempted to pick out Damien Delaney with a back pass but miscued horribly, leaving it to fall virtually at Defoe’s feet. Having already outmanoeuvred James Tomkins, Moyes’s prize asset shot low beyond Steve Mandanda’s reach, leaving Ledley staring at the floor.
Across in the technical area, Moyes’s expression offered a definition of relief, albeit a tentative and slightly disbelieving one. For once, he had enjoyed a little luck but Pardew’s players might have equalised almost immediately. When Benteke connected with a corner, his ensuing headed flick prefaced Delaney volleying fractionally wide.
After being virtually in complete control, Palace were now required to take risks as they chased an equaliser, offering Sunderland counterattacking opportunities along the way.
From one such break Defoe – without whom Sunderland really would be sunk – briefly appeared to have shredded Pardew’s gameplan. No sooner had Mandanda performed wonders to repel one of his shots than Duncan Watmore’s slide-rule pass cued him up once more. This time, Palace’s goalkeeper had no answer to Defoe’s low, 12 yard, finish.
Pardew seemed momentarily crestfallen but Wearsiders will not have been entirely surprised to see Palace reduce the deficit within seconds. Endeavouring to block Ledley’s speculative shot, Van Aanholt merely succeeded in deflecting the ball beyond Pickford.
With hope rekindled, the visiting manager made an inspired substitution. Zeki Fryers had barely replaced Martin Kelly than his exquisite left-wing cross was met by James McArthur, who headed powerfully past Pickford. Moyes will not have been impressed to note that Van Aanholt was dodged all too easily by the scorer, while Fryers had earlier delighted in side-stepping Javier Manquillo.
Palace were not quite done. If Moyes felt reprieved when Andros Townsend cut inside and curled a late shot wide, his afternoon was ruined when Paddy McNair needlessly conceded a free-kick, taken near the corner flag by Lee Chung-yong and, deep into stoppage time, an unmarked Benteke rose imperiously to clinch it.
“I was really scratching my head as to how we could get back into it,” Pardew said. “But our quick response to Jermain’s second goal affected Sunderland’s mentality and it’s become a great day for us.”
