Defeat number 28 but Black Cats' fans torture finally over

Before the curtain came down on their brief stay in the top-flight, one more unwanted record fell on Sunderland at Villa Park yesterday, in what was a typical finale to their entire season.

Sunderland may have avoided the ignominy of becoming the first English club to go through an entire season without a home win last Thursday, but they were powerless to prevent an equally embarrassing statistic falling their way yesterday.

Defeat number 28 of the season at Aston Villa means Sunderland's woeful tally of 15 points is two less than the previously set top-flight low of 17 by Stoke City since three points for a win was introduced 25 years ago.

Perhaps this venue was always going to be a difficult place for Sunderland to overcome that mark, having failed to win here since 1982, and in the end that rang true.

Nevertheless the thousands of Sunderland fans that sang from the first whistle to the last can now look to a new era with hope.

Preparations for life back in the Championship will take place this summer and the increasing likelihood of a Niall Quinn consortium taking over has recaptured disgruntled fans' imaginations.

But even those fans who did the Conga in the away end at Villa Park, when most other clubs' supporters would have jeered, had to deal with another defeat to end the campaign on.

Gareth Barry's casual first half finish and Liam Ridgewell's bullet header sealed the win, and not even Danny Collins' goal two minutes from time could alter that.

The trip to the Midlands was always going to be one of Sunderland's better chances of claiming back-to-back top-flight wins for the first time since December 2001, but that never arrived.

Villa's turmoil may not be of the same enormity to that on Wearside, but they are verging on crisis all the same. Talk of a takeover, fans wanting O'Leary out and only Sunderland and West Brom have worse home records this season.

The Black Cats received plenty of encouragement to push forward when in possession, although the home side did enjoy the freedom in the attacking half themselves.

James Milner proved a constant menace to Gary Breen's defence. He was the first to test Kelvin Davis with a pretty routine strike, but it was the Newcastle loan man's outstanding ability to deliver the perfect cross that was most threatening.

The pick of the early centres from Milner fell to Kevin Phillips on 20 minutes. But the former England striker's downward header from 12 yards dropped just the wrong side of Kelvin Davis' left upright.

Both Tommy Miller, with an overhead kick that fell kindly for Sorensen, and Chris Brown, whose shot rolled into the keeper after a good move involving Dean Whitehead and Le Tallec, went close for Sunderland.

But it was Villa who were on the ascendancy more often. Sunderland's cause was hardly helped when George McCartney suffered more injury woe and Stephen Caldwell followed him down the tunnel with knee trouble.

The departure of Caldwell in particular caused major problems. Collins, on for McCartney, had to move in the middle and Justin Hoyte switched from right midfield to left-back to accommodate substitute Daryl Murphy on the right.

After that moment Villa tested the Sunderland keeper on two occasions before half-time, but Kelvin Davis was equal to them both.

Firstly he jumped high to push away a powerful drive from Milner, and then got down low to left to turn away a right-foot strike from Juan Pablo Angel.

Sunderland's opening half was spent with a large share of the possession but there was very little penetration, with Thomas Sorensen never seriously tested.

That could not have been highlighted any better by a move of many passes ending with Brown failing to pick out Le Tallec, when the pair had one defender to play around.

And Brown, who had been busy, suffered more frustration two minutes before the break when his poor first touch led to the Villa goal.

After the striker's failure to deal with Breen's pass into his feet, Villa took control and pushed forward at speed. The play ended with Steven Davis one-timing Milner's pass onto Barry.

The left-midfielder was given far too much time on the ball and he curled his left foot strike around Nyron Nosworthy and into Kelvin Davis' bottom right corner.

Seconds later it could have been worse, which would have been harsh on Sunderland. Milner was again involved and his centre deflected off Collins and onto the post, before being gathered by his keeper.

Despite Villa's late first half surge, Sunderland continued to look for the equaliser immediately after the restart and it nearly arrived in fortuitous circumstances. A deflected header rebounded off Liam Ridgewell and was destined for the Villa net but Barry was on hand to clear on the line.

But Milner's football brain meant Sunderland had to always be alert. Milner, playing his last game before he is due to return to St James' Park, played a neat one-two with Angel before he curled his shot just over from the edge of the area.

There were a couple of efforts from Whitehead and Nosworthy that never looked like levelling matters and Villa responded emphatically.

A fine 25-yard right-foot drive from midfielder Steven Davis rebounded off the post, and McCann's big chance to score against his old club ended with him directing the rebound just wide of the empty net.

Then striker Angel was denied at close range by Kelvin Davis, as the only goal that looked like arriving was of the Villa variety. It duly arrived.

If Barry's penalty kick, after Breen had brought down substitute Gabriel Agbonlahor, failed to beat Davis when he turned the shot onto the bar, then Ridgwell didn't.

The centre-back's header from Milner's corner brought a superb save from the Sunderland keeper but he was helpless to prevent his second header flying beyond him.

There was the consolation of Collins' late header to celebrate for the massive and joyous away support but the defeat still brought an end to a season everyone will want to forget at the Stadium of Light.

Result: Aston Villa 2, Sunderland 1.

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