10-man Newcastle United Claw Point Away From Sunderland’s Black Cats

Carlos Cuellar of Sunderland battles Demba Ba of Newcastle (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

One of the most heated rivalries in all of English football lived up to expectations as Sunderland and 10-man Newcastle shared the spoils in their search of north-east dominance. Both positioned around mid-table prior to the 1-1 draw, the pair had a lot riding on the fixture in terms of league placement along with the bragging rights that were up for grabs.
Newcastle established themselves as major European contenders with their performances last season, and showed the initiative as to why that may just be realistic after Yohan Cabaye put the visitors 1-0 up within three minutes. The Frenchman has been a massive success since arriving on Tyneside from Lille and was in the right place at the right time to pounce on a rebounding ball just ten yards from Simon Mignolet’s goal.

However, the match then took a turn for the worse as far as the Magpies were concerned when Martin Atkinson decided that Cheik TIote’s high-raised challenge on Steven Fletcher was just too late to go without severe punishment. Fletcher’s pass was justifiably long gone, and while some may feel the judgement was harsh, showing your studs is always a dangerous thing and Tioté was given his marching orders with just over 20 minutes gone.
Sunderland were poor in their response and even with a significant numerical advantage over their opposition, failed to test the Newcastle goal as any team with one more player should. In fact, despite their disadvantage, the Magpies still managed to finish with more shots on target than their bitter rivals.
The likes of James McClean and Stephane Sessegnon, who were both instrumental in the second half of Sunderland’s 2011-12 campaign, were largely unnoticeable during the game, giving Newcastle’s defense little to worry about. While the Black Cats racked up quite a decent portion of possession in the second half of the first period, a lack of penetration meant Tim Krul’s goal was in little danger.
That said, some half-time words from Martin O’Neill appeared to light a fire under the hosts and Sunderland swiftly began to look more menacing in the second half. A turning point in the encounter came in the 79^th minute when Fabricio Coloccini, who had been an absolute rock in the center of Alan Pardew’s defense, succumbed to cramp and was replaced by Steven Taylor.
Not long after, a drilled free-kick in the visitors’ half connected with the head of John O’Shea before taking an unavoidable deflection of the head of Demba Ba, diverting cruelly past Tim Krul in the 83^rd minute. The Dutch stopper had no chance of preventing the deflected effort, but the Stadium of Light was in delirium nonetheless.
Although the game finished at 1-1, the match contained all the thrills and spills a spectator could ask for as well as your usual bit of controversy for an English top flight fixture. Martin O’Neill’s side will have a lot to take away from the game, while Pardew’s outfit make the short trip back to Tyneside as the far happier of the duo.