Football Flashback: Norwich City 0 Sunderland 3, April 2016

By the time they left East Anglia with an emphatic 3-0 win, however, their survival push under Sam Allardyce was well and truly on.

The season would end with Norwich being relegated, while Sunderland finished in 17th position, two points clear of the bottom three. Clearly, the two sides’ meeting in the final month of the campaign proved a pivotal fixture.

An even first half saw Vito Mannone make a crucial save when Younes Kaboul threatened to turn the ball into his own net, with Sunderland making an all-important breakthrough just before the interval.

Jermain Defoe teed up Fabio Borini in the penalty area, and the Italian was felled by Andre Wisdom as he was poised to get a shot away. Borini stepped up and made no mistake from the spot.

Fabio Borini celebrates after scoring Sunderland's opening goal (Image: PA)

Nathan Redmond struck the post with a long-range effort at the start of the second half, but Sunderland doubled their lead seven minutes into the second half when Defoe’s clinical finishing skills came to the fore.

The impressive Jan Kirchhoff won the ball off Sebastien Bassong and teed up Borioni, who delivered a slide-rule cross that Defoe converted at the back post.

With a Norwich side led by future Sunderland boss Alex Neil piling on the pressure, Lee Cattermole was forced to make two goalline clearances, both of which kept out efforts by Dieumerci Mbokani.

Sunderland desperately needed a third goal to make things safe, and it arrived in stoppage time to send the travelling support wild.

Sebastian Larsson sent Duncan Watmore racing clear, and while Defoe was well placed in support, the winger, who was a second-half substitute, opted to go himself, sliding a clinical finish past John Ruddy.

Duncan Watmore scored Sunderland's final goal (Image: PA)

The win lifted Sunderland to within a point of safety, and sparked an unbeaten run that would eventually stretch to six matches and take the Black Cats all the way to the end of the season.

Speaking after the game, Allardyce said: “It was a huge win and the lads have been able to take the pressure, which is something I was a little anxious about this morning. The position we’ve left ourselves in was making me feel a bit edgy this morning. Will we handle the pressure? Will we cope with the pressure? They’ve answered my questions.  

“The most pleasing thing of all was the clean sheet, that is our way forward with five games to go. I know if we can keep two or three clean sheets in those games, we’ll be safe because I know we can score.”

Cattermole added: “The message was not to get beat today. We’ve played well since the turn of the year, but we haven’t found the way to win. We’ve drawn a lot of games, but we believe in ourselves. Today we showed character, commitment and desire and it gives us a good chance.”