Sunderland avoid a slip up

THOUSANDS of Barrow fans might have had their return route across the Pennines blocked by snow, but Sunderland’s first step on the road to Wembley was far more straight forward.

After a few early skids that could have ended with the team from the Blue Square Premier being level by the break, Black Cats manager Steve Bruce was satisfied with how comfortable their passage to round four actually was.

And while the Barrow team coach and the convoy of 7,500 travelling supporters had to take a detour back to Cumbria on Saturday night because the A66 was closed, Bruce was left to contemplate his own next move after avoiding a slip up.

There might have been a few hairy moments for Bruce, but in the aftermath of this third round victory his only growing concerns will be for the size of his squad.

Guiding Sunderland to an FA Cup final this season is a serious target for Bruce, but he knows making adjustments to a pool of players being stretched to its limits is essential during the course of the next few weeks.

After a starting central midfield combination with a combined age of just 39 in Jordan Henderson and David Meyler, and finishing with Academy graduates Michael Liddle and Ryan Noble, Bruce knows he has a lack of depth, no matter how highly he rates his kids.

But if he can bring in a few new faces before the transfer window closes on February 1, Bruce will be more confident of going much further in the competition.

“The FA Cup is huge to all Premier League clubs,” he said.

“We’ve got to be realistic, we’re not going to win the league, the only thing we can win is a cup.

“We’re capable of winning five or six games and that’s what it takes, and we’ve got one out of the road.

“The one thing we need for the second half of the season is better fortune on the squad front. With the size of the squad, to have ten people missing is a worry and a concern, it’s something that needs to be looked at.

“We haven’t been settled for weeks but it does open the door for people like Meyler to stake his claim. He’s done very well and I’m pleased for him.”

Meyler, signed from Cork by Roy Keane 18 months ago, was not the only one to make a favourable impression on the manager – despite an indifferent start against the non-league outfit.

Fraizer Campbell has endured a frustrating start to life at Sunderland having found himself behind the pairing of Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent.

But in the absence of Jones, who could be back from calf trouble next week, Campbell recovered from a poor first half to become the difference between the two teams.

It was Campbell, whose only other goal since his £3.5m summer move was against Birmingham in the Carling Cup, who finally increased daylight between the two teams, adding two headers to Steed Malbranque’s first half opener.

Whether or not he will be still in the team for the fourth round remains to be seen, but the 22- year-old has every intention of helping Bruce to fulfil his FA Cup targets this season.

“If the manager says he’s going to take something seriously the players are fully behind him in everything. Every game we play here we take seriously,”

said Campbell.

“It keeps players like myself, who haven’t been playing much, a chance to stake their claim. Anything can happen in the cup if you do well on the day. If we can get a good run anything can happen.”

Campbell was also heavily involved in the opener inside 17 minutes. When George Mc- Cartney delivered a low cross from the left after being sent clear by Daryl Murphy, Campbell’s clever backheel paved the way for Malbranque to drive his first goal in more than a year low across Tim Deasy.

Prior to that Barrow had looked the more dangerous, with midfielders Marc Goodfellow, Andy Bond and Paul Rutherford all going close.

The Bluebirds’ co-management team of Darren Sheridan and Dave Bayliss felt referee Neil Swarbrick had given his players little protection against their Premier League counterparts.

But just after the restart it was not the two-footed challenges from McCartney and Lorik Cana that Sheridan was concerned with, more the freekick awarded which led to Campbell’s crucial first goal.

“Usually if you jump in twofooted you know the consequences but you can’t moan.

They deserved to win,” said Sheridan. “But the referee said Gareth Jellyman handballed when he awarded the free-kick and Sunderland have scored from it. The lad was lying on the ground and the ball just rolled against his hand.”

Barrow had started to fade towards the end of the first half, but the timing of that free-kick was pivotal just seven minutes after the break.

Murphy floated over the freekick, Campbell worked his way ahead of his marker and ducked to head a neat, cushioned header into Deasy’s bottom left corner.

It took Campbell just five more minutes to wrap things up, this time rising first inside the area to flick a Phil Bardsley centre to Deasy’s right with a perfect header – and there was no way back for Barrow.

“Sometimes it can be hard to deal with but if the team’s winning, you’re assisting and contributing it makes it a lot easier,”

said Campbell. “You’ve just got to keep battling on.

“Hopefully now I can just concentrate on playing football and relax a little bit. Not playing also plays on your mind a bit. You just want to play regularly.

If you play regularly you’ve got more chance of scoring and hitting a bit of form. It just sharpens you up, really.

But you’ve just got to work hard, bide your time and hopefully that will come.”

It would have been unfair on Barrow had teenage striker Noble marked his debut in style by making the most of a couple of chances he has been putting away for fun at reserves level, or had Bent not been denied by Deasy’s heroics.

But in the end Sunderland succeeded in knocking out Barrow, whose chairman Brian Keen was a boyhood fan of the Wearside outfit, just as Middlesbrough did 12 months ago.

“Let’s hope we can get the treble up next season and get Newcastle,”

said Sheridan. “We didn’t think we would do it again after Middlesbrough but we have done so you never know.

It has been a really good day out.”

Match facts

Goals:

1-0: Malbranque (15, applied perfect low finish after decent move down the left) 2-0: Campbell (52, met Murphy’s freekick with a tidy downward header) 3-0: Campbell (58, jumped to flick Bardsley’s delivery beyond Deasy)

Bookings: Hulbert (21, persistent fouling); Cana (40, dissent); McCartney (41, foul); Campbell (70, dissent); Deasy (70, dissent)

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Preston) – strange decisions with a number of bookings and Barrow had every right to be aggrieved 5

Attendance: 25,190

Entertainment: ✰✰✰

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2):

6 Fulop: Held most things when he needed to but rarely seriously tested;

6 Bardsley: A decent delivery for Campbell’s second and defended well

5 Cana: Never at his best and picked up another silly booking

6 Da Silva: His first encounter with non-league English football will have been a wake-up call

6 McCartney: His driving run down the left led to the opening goal;

7 MALBRANQUE: Faded after the third goal but he was the most creative man on the pitch

6 Meyler: Solid enough in the middle of a very youthful central midfield

6 Henderson: Is fast becoming one of the most consistent members of the team

7 Murphy: Enjoyed a really prominent second half but likely to be offloaded this month;

7 Campbell: After a poor start he delivered two fine finishes to wrap the win up 5Bent: For a change he was outdone by his strike-partner’s scoring

Subs:

Noble (for Bent 72) Healy (for Murphy 77) Liddle (for McCartney 82) (not used): Carson, Anderson, Reed, O’Donovan

BARROW (4-4-2):

DEASY 8; Spender 6, Bolland 7, Pearson 7, Jelleyman 7; Goodfellow 7, Hulbert 6, Bond 8, Rutherford 7 (Rutherford 56, 5); Blundell 6 (Rothery 72), Walker 7.

Subs: Jones, Boyd, Sheridan, Bayliss, Tomlinson

MAN OF THE MATCH

TIM Deasy – the Barrow goalkeeper made a number of top saves to keep the score at three.