Sunderland 2, Reading 1

IT might have lost one of its most cherished sons last week but, on Saturday, Sunderland Football Club proved that it had rediscovered its heart.

United in a pre-match remembrance of Ian Porterfield, the club's match-winner in the 1973 FA Cup final, staff, supporters and former legends evoked the glories of Sunderland's past. Fittingly, the 90 minutes that followed hinted at an equally eventful and emotional future.

On the field, the current crop of Black Cats claimed their second victory of the season with a performance of style and swagger that augured well for the remainder of the Premier League campaign.

And off it, the rapturous reception afforded to both the class of '73 and their successors in 2007 underlined the transformation that has occurred since Niall Quinn ousted Bob Murray last summer.

Back then, the Irishman had spoken of the need to rebuild a bond between club and community, a link that had been severed by a succession of empty promises and broken dreams.

When, with ten minutes of Saturday's game remaining, more than 35,000 Sunderland supporters rose as one to commemorate Porterfield's heroics, it was clear that the emotional link had been successfully re-established.

Sunderland, the city, is once again proud of its football club. The likes of Porterfield, Jimmy Montgomery, Bobby Kerr and Micky Horswill will never be forgotten, but the thirst for new heroes and memories has returned.

"I think we paid a fitting tribute," said Roy Keane, after goals from Kenwyne Jones and Ross Wallace ended a four-game losing run. "The best way of paying our respects was always going to be putting on a good performance and winning the football match.

"I'm sure if Ian was looking down, he would have enjoyed it. It's important to remember our history."

Some managers, mindful of the weight of expectation on their shoulders, might not agree. When David Platt took over at Nottingham Forest in the late 1990s, he famously ordered the removal of all memorabilia relating to Brian Clough's successful spell at the club.

ON the day that Wearside paid its respects to Ian Porterfield, Sunderland's players produced the most fitting tribute of all.

The club's best display of the season was easily too much for a Reading side that look certain to be involved in the relegation shake-up next May, and meant that Porterfield's FA Cup-winning heroics were celebrated in style.

Each and every Sunderland player played their part in a victory that was even more comprehensive than the scoreline suggests.

With Carlos Edwards, Dean Whitehead and Kieran Richardson injured, midfield creativity was supposed to be at a premium.

But in Grant Leadbitter and Ross Wallace, the Black Cats possessed two wide players whose passing and movement carved out a succession of gilt-edged chances.

Kenwyne Jones converted one of them in the first half, and his first Sunderland goal was a fitting reward for an energetic and enterprising display.

Wallace added a second in the early stages of the second half, but his close-range effort was overshadowed by yet another booking for taking his shirt off. The lessons of last season's dismissal at Hull have clearly not been learned.

Dave Kitson's late header made for an unnecessarily nervy finale, but a sad week on Wearside ended on a defiantly upbeat note.

History, when it is entirely out of kilter with present conditions, can become a cloying and destructive influence. When used as a means of affirming identity, however, it can be the most powerful tool a football club can have.

Keane became aware of as much at Old Trafford, and on taking over at the Stadium of Light last summer, one of his first moves was to install a series of photographic tributes to the glory of Sunderland's past.

Quinn proved equally pro-active, building bridges with the likes of Porterfield, Kerr and Montgomery, people who had grown disillusioned with the detachment of some of the previous regime.

The result was Saturday's outpouring of emotion. That ten of the 11 remaining members of the 1973 squad were there to witness it and bask in the warmth of the fans' support - Dave Watson, the only absentee, was stranded abroad - was perhaps the most positive aspect of all.

"Vic Halom drove over from Bulgaria to be here and it took him a couple of days to do it," said Montgomery, still as sprightly and wide-eyed as he was when he made football's greatest double-save 34 years ago. "That epitomises what this day and this football club mean.

"It wasn't always like this - there have been times when the club didn't want to know us - but that's all in the past now.

"The chairman started to change things, and Roy has carried on exactly the same. He's come from Manchester United. If you turned around at Manchester United and said, 'Forget the history - we've just got to look at the present', it would be absolutely ridiculous.

"That's what one or two people at Sunderland tried to do before, but Niall and Roy know that the past still matters. It brings everyone together as a football club."

Yet while Saturday's game was undoubtedly about remembering the past, it proved equally successful as a celebration of the present. In danger of falling flat on their faces given the emotion of the occasion, Sunderland's players produced their finest display of the season.

And on a day when the club paid tribute to the scorer of its most memorable goal, it was particularly fitting that a new attacking hero made an instant impression on centre stage.

Kenwyne Jones will have to go some to match Porterfield in the fans' affections, but a match-winning display on your home debut is hardly a bad way to start.

Signed to provide the physical threat Sunderland lacked for the majority of last season, the Trinidad & Tobago international ran the Reading defence ragged in partnership with the equally energetic Michael Chopra.

His aerial prowess provided the Black Cats with a new attacking option, but it was his work-rate and ability with the ball at his feet that evoked comparisons with Sunderland's last successful target-man, Quinn.

The touch that allowed him to turn inside Ivar Ingimarsson for the Black Cats' first goal was both deft and dextrous, and the finish that ripped past Marcus Hahnemann could hardly have been more emphatic.

Just as impressive, though, was the wriggle down the right wing that enabled Ross Wallace to double Sunderland's lead from close range in the 47th minute. Two games in, and Jones is already justifying his £6m price tag.

"For a home debut, that was probably as good as I've seen," said Keane. "He's a bit different. He's a big, strong physical lad, but the quality of his footwork is under-estimated as well. We've lacked physical presence in the past and he addresses that.

"He's a handful. Reading have some good central defenders but he caused them problems. I didn't really think they could handle him all game."

Wallace's strike, which was followed by the now-inevitable shirt removal despite last season's dismissal at Hull, looked to have secured a comfortable win.

But after Dave Kitson reduced Reading's arrears with an 85th-minute glanced header, Sunderland's decision to start defending on the edge of their own penalty area ensured an unnecessarily fraught finale.

The final whistle brought relief, and a final emotional outburst that confirmed both the depth of the club's pride and the extent of its ambition.

"I know we keep saying we're a sleeping giant and there's so many sleeping giants in English football, but we genuinely are," said Montgomery. "There are 40,000 people at every game now and they all want this football club to be great again.