Birmingham City 2 Sunderland 1

Oct 25 2009 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

IF life was a beach for Sunderland last Saturday, it was something very different – but similar-sounding – this weekend.

‘Beachballgate’ and the euphoria of a home win against Liverpool seemed a distant memory as the Black Cats were left feeling decidedly Blue at St Andrew’s.

Sunderland accepted the bouquets for their terrific displays against Manchester United and Liverpool in recent weeks but after this dismal performance they will have to accept the brickbats that fly in their direction.

They looked a shadow of the side that had picked up four points – and deserved all six – from those two games against top four opposition.

While Sunderland had scored inside 10 minutes in each of their previous four games, they took 80 minutes to get going against Birmingham and then another couple of minutes to muster their first shot on target.

By then, goals from Liam Ridgewell and James McFadden meant they were 2-0 down and boss Steve Bruce summed up his side’s late rally perfectly: “Too little, too late.” Yet once Scott Dann put through his own net with a botched clearance eight minutes from time, to halve the deficit, only the width of the post denied Sunderland a point, with leading scorer Darren Bent clipping the woodwork in the final minute.

It was an unhappy first return to St Andrew’s for Bruce, who was back at Birmingham for the first time since his acrimonious departure two years ago.

Bruce was given a good reception by the home fans, who remembered that he twice took their club into the Premier League during his six-year stint in charge, and was applauded by the home fans as he walked the touchline to take his place in the dugout.

But how he would have wished he could mark the occasion with a win – especially with Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, whose takeover bid in 2007 sparked Bruce’s decision to leave and take charge at Wigan, watching from the stands after finally getting his hands on the Blues earlier this month.

Sunderland went into the game full of optimism while Birmingham’s home record of just one win and two goals scored in four games was certainly nothing to be afraid of.

But, sadly for the Wearsiders, Birmingham doubled both those tallies. Bruce made two changes to the side which started the win against Liverpool last weekend, with Kieran Richardson returning from suspension and youngster Jordan Henderson coming into central midfield with Lee Cattermole being ruled out for three months with knee ligament damage.