West Brom 3 Sunderland 0

Apr 26 2009 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

WHEN you are booed off the pitch by your die-hard away fans, you know things are bad.

When it happens at half-time and at full-time, you know things are a whole lot worse than bad.

Well, that’s what happened to Sunderland at The Hawthorns and there wasn’t a person in the ground who could blame the travelling supporters for venting their fury.

As performances go, this was the pits.

Not just because of the result and the fact that this was a golden opportunity to all-but secure Premier League survival missed.

It was the manner of this defeat that hurt the fans the most.

Limp. Loose. Languid. Lackadaisical. Whatever ‘L’ you choose, it added up to hell for Sunderland.

A fortnight ago Sunderland raised their game to give Premier League leaders Manchester United a real contest at the Stadium of Light.

Someone should tell the players that it doesn’t work in reverse . . . when you are playing the side bottom of the league, you do not lower your game.

But that seemed to be exactly what Sunderland did.

They allowed modest opposition to put them to the sword all too easily and it is no wonder Ricky Sbragia was left shaking his head on the touchline.