Bent shoots down the Gunners
SUNDERLAND'S leading goalscorer Darren Bent fired the Wearsiders to victory against Arsenal at the Stadium of Light.
Lady luck was once again shining on the Black Cats, as they claimed their second top-four scalp of the campaign.
This time there was no lucky beach ball to help secure the spoils, but the bounce did favour Bent as he pounced on 71 minutes.
The striker met Andy Reid's corner, but headed well wide of goal..
However, the effort hit team-mate Fraizer Campbell and bounced back towards Bent, who slid in ahead of Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia to poke the ball home.
The Londoners tried to get back into the game and threw everything they had at the Wearsiders.
And they may feel hard done by that they weren't awarded a penalty in time added on.
Substitute Carlos Vela went down with ease, but replays showed there was definite contact with the Mexican forward and Sunderland sub Campbell.
Referee Alan Wiley waved away the Arsenal appeals and Sunderland broke at pace.
This time Mr Wiley was lenient towards the Gunners as Armand Traore was fortunate to see yellow instead of red for a vicious late challenge.
Sunderland took the game to Arsene Wenger's men in the second half and asked questions of the visitors defence.
That wasn't the case in the opening minutes of the first half as the hosts struggled to get the ball from their opponents.
But Arsenal's trademark silky fast-flowing football was lacking a cutting edge when it came to the final pass or shot.
Despite this the visitors almost went ahead on six minutes, but Marton Fulop got down well to save Tomas Rosicky's effort with his legs.
Cesc Fabregas also went close in the opening 15 minutes firing over the bar, while just after the half-hour mark Eduardo exchanged passes with Alex Song, before hooking the ball just wide of the target.
Sunderland's first-half opportunities were kept at a premium, although Steed Malbranque had two good chances to fire his side in front, but was off target with both.
Wenger rang the changes after the Gunners went behind bringing on Vela and Walcott to try to add to his attacking options.
But Sunderland held firm to survive the mini onslaught and the penalty claim, notching up yet another impressive home win in the process.
The delight of the red and white contigent among the 44,918 crowd could clearly be heard as Steve Bruce's men left the field to rapturous applause, which was well deserved.
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Weather for South Shields
Saturday 11 February 2012
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