Bent blunted but Sunderland leave it late

IT was a day to sadden the old and an outing to remember for the new. While Darren Bent fluffed his lines on his unwelcome first return to Wearside, the Sunderland supporters who turned up to abuse him had a couple of fresh heroes to applaud.

Teenager Connor Wickham showed Bent how to find the net and substitute goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, making his top-flight debut, became an instant hit.

Wickham grabbed his first Premier League goal and Westwood made a second half save that will be remembered by the River Wear in the months and years ahead.

Having survived the scare, perhaps Sunderland can move on. Much effort among the fans may have gone into creating banners – like B£NT and DBTheLiar, a play on his old Twitter name – to highlight the extent of the sour feelings towards him since he forced through his £24m move to Aston Villa.

Fans make their feelings clear about Darren Bent's choice to force through a £24m move Aston Villa

Now that the jeers which greeted his return have died down, the reality is the England striker left ten months ago and it is all about making progress without him.

His record of 36 goals in 63 appearances, including scoring against all of the Premier League’s top six, speaks for itself and he was always going to be difficult to replace.

But Wickham’s finish has followed goals scored by Nicklas Bendtner and Ji Dong-Won in recent weeks, and it could be that Sunderland have the potential to be more of an allround threat.

Throw in the versatility and dangers posed by Seb Larsson and Stephane Sessegnon, who scored his second in as many matches since moving out wide, and the players are also optimistic that things will improve.

“Bent always played on the shoulder and tried to get in behind,” said left-footed Kieran Richardson. “Bendtner and Connor have given us something different, though. They are totally different players to Bent.

“We have scored more this season at a similar stage and it shows we have replaced Bent.

Now we are scoring a lot of goals. Last season it was more about Bent scoring all of the goals, this season everyone is chipping in.

“That’s great for the confidence of the whole team, not just one man. We want to get our strikers scoring more goals than the rest of the lads but it’s good that they are shared out.”

After ten games last season, Sunderland had scored nine times, Bent had six of them and they had just lost 5-1 at St James’ Park. This year, ahead of a trip to Manchester United, a Bent-less Sunderland have scored 14 times.

But since he was sold, Sunderland’s form has been alarming.

Despite avoiding defeat to Aston Villa after cancelling out the visitors’ lead twice, it remains a worrying statistic that they have won just six matches.

That looked like worsening when Stilyan Petrov opened the scoring in the 20th minute.

Alan Hutton, the Scotland right-back who spent a successful loan at Sunderland, was picked out in loads of space by Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Hutton, who made the most of Sessegnon’s failure to track back, played a cute pass inside for Petrov. The Bulgarian skipped round David Vaughan before curling a terrific left-foot shot from 22 yards into Simon Mignolet’s top left corner.

Michael Turner and Wickham both went close with headers before the £8.1m teenager struck the sweetest of low finishes beyond Shay Given seven minutes before half-time after a nice through pass from Sessegnon.

Richardson has been impressed with the 18-year-old, who gave Richard Dunne a rough ride. He said: “Stepping up from the Championship is a bit different. He has worked hard in training and got stronger by the day. I’m sure he will score many goals in the Premier League.

“He has everything. As long as he keeps his head down and listens to the manager I’m sure he will progress. It showed out there that he already has people bouncing off him.”

Sunderland, who had already had to reshuffle their pack following a further hamstring injury for John O’Shea, then had further problems when Mignolet suffered a broken nose shortly after half-time.

Mignolet’s replacement had nothing to do until the later stages, while at the other end both Larsson, with another of his free-kicks, and Bendtner, with a wayward header, came close to making the most of heavy Sunderland pressure.

A failure to do just that, however, allowed Villa to regroup.

When Agbonlahor and Bent linked well on the edge of the box, the moment the nervous Stadium of Light crowd feared was on the cards.

Bent, who had been poor throughout and had already been denied in the first half by Richardson, had just Westwood to beat. The former Coventry goalkeeper, signed on a free in the summer, dived to his right and his legs saved the day.

“Nine times out of ten Darren would have put that away,”

said Richardson. “It wasn’t to be for him and Westwood made a great save. All credit to him, coming into the game and making a save like that.”

After the predictable chants of ‘what a waste of money’ echoed around the stadium, Bent looked like having the last laugh – even if he was not the one to find the net.

When Larsson brought down Agbonlahor, Petrov floated over the free-kick and Dunne flicked his header beyond Westwood to put Villa ahead again with just five minutes remaining.

But Sunderland, who have won just two home games since January, responded well.

Sessegnon won a free-kick with a minute to go under a challenge from Dunne, Larsson sent in the delivery and Sessegnon, the smallest man on the pitch, casually headed the equaliser low and beyond Given.

Many fans stayed to subject Bent to further derogatory chants, but more importantly for Bruce his players responded well in a strange atmosphere.

“It was a good comeback. The win at Bolton was massive and it would have been no good losing at home after that. It would have all been for nothing,” said Richardson.

“I would never say anything bad about the fans here. They are great fans. It’s been a long time since Bent left and there were a lot of boos for him. It clearly put him off.”

Matchfacts

Goals: 0-1: Petrov (20, curled a perfect left foot strike high into Mignolet’s top left corner from 22 yards); 1-1: Wickham (38, found space to make the most of Sessegnon’s pass with a fine low drive inside Given’s far post); 1-2: Dunne (85, rose to flick Petrov’s free-kick beyond Westwood from a crowded area) 2-2: Sessegnon (89, on hand to nod Larsson’s free-kick beyond Given from a crowded box)
Bookings: Bardsley (67, foul), Agbonlahor (73, foul); Warnock (86, foul), Dunne (90, foul)
Referee: Chris Foy (St Helens): Angered Villa more than Sunderland with some of his decisions, but difficult to see why. 6
Attendance: 37,062
Entertainment: ***

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2)

6 Mignolet: Showed good handling before his withdrawal with a broken nose, although was well off his line for Petrov’s goal;
6 O’Shea: Further frustration. The captain’s hamstring looks like keeping him out of his first return to Old Trafford next week
7 Turner: Is starting to look like the player who was a regular before his serious knee injury last season
7 Brown: Had a decent outing, even if he thought Bent was going to make the most of his chance after Agbonlahor had put through his legs
6 Richardson: Made a really good stop to deny Bent early in the game at the back post;
8 LARSSON: Went close with a trademark free-kick and his crossing has been exactly what Sunderland have lacked in recent years
6 Colback: Plenty of energy, plenty of drive, even if he was not as effective as he was at Bolton
7 Vaughan: Wasted one opportunity to find the target, but was a menace to the Villa midfield
7 Sessegnon: Plenty of tricks and did well to head in the equaliser from a crowded area late on;
6 Bendtner: Never gave the ball away, led the line well even if he was never at his best
7 Wickham: Took his goal like an £8.1m striker should and will only get better with more games

Subs: Bardsley (for O’Shea 35): Picked up a booking, but is likely to be back in the team for the long term now. 5 Westwood (for Mignolet 52): Made one memorable stop to deny Bent with his legs. 6 Meyler (for Vaughan 82) (not used): Cattermole, Gardner, Ji, Elmohamady.

ASTON VILLA (4-4-2): Given 6; Hutton 7, Dunne 7, Collins 6, Warnock 6; N’Zogbia 5 (Albrighton 87), Herd 5, PETROV 8, Heskey 5; Agbonlahor 7, Bent 5. Subs (not used): Ireland, Delfouenso, Delph, Clark, Guzan (gk), Cuellar.

MAN OF THE MATCH
SEB Larsson – when he ticks, Sunderland will score goals because his crossing has already become such a crucial part of their play.