Sunderland 2 Swansea City 0

Jan 22 2012 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

The Sunderland defence combines to thwart Danny Graham of Swansea

POSSESSION is no substitute for goals.

And Swansea learnt that lesson the hard way as Sunderland ended their 38-year hoodoo against the Welshmen.

The Swans enjoyed almost 70% of the possession at the Stadium of Light but, with no cutting edge to make it count, their dominance went to waste.

Instead, Sunderland made a little possession go a long way as stunning strikes from Stephane Sessegnon and substitute Craig Gardner gave the Black Cats their first win over the Swans since 1964.

Sessegnon bent a precision shot beyond Swansea’s highly-rated Dutch keeper Michel Vorm and into the top right-hand corner to give Martin O’Neill’s side the lead inside the first quarter-of-an-hour, and Gardner set the seal on the win five minutes from time with a dipping 25-yard volley that found the top left-hand corner.

The goals were of the highest quality, even if Sunderland’s performance was decidedly average.

O’Neill admitted afterwards that he felt his side’s exertions over the busy Christmas and New Year period finally caught up with them yesterday.

Certainly, after an excellent opening 20 minutes from Sunderland, they allowed Swansea to take control of the game for long periods.

But Sunderland kept their concentration in defence and made sure that there was no way back into the game for the visitors, with Gardner’s goal putting an end to any nagging doubts.

Sunderland owner Ellis Short has been delighted with the impact O’Neill has made since the Irishman took charge at the beginning of December. And this win continued the ‘upward curve’ Short talked of in his programme notes, making it 16 points from eight league games under O’Neill as the Black Cats jumped three places to clamber back into the top half of the table.

It also proved that last weekend’s defeat at Chelsea – only the second reverse since O’Neill’s arrival – was no more than a temporary blip.

Sunderland were forced into one change for yesterday’s game, with Matt Kilgallon ruled out with the ankle injury he suffered at Chelsea.

Michael Turner came off the bench to replace Kilgallon at Stamford Bridge, but O’Neill opted to bring back fit-again Wes Brown alongside John O’Shea in central defence, with Turner again among the subs.