A paltry crowd of 32,296 turned up to see Sunderland score four goals and cruise to their first win of the season to ease the early pressure that was already gathering on Steve Bruce.
An early-season nightmare of losing to Newcastle United in our first home game of the season was compounded by the loss of Asamoah Gyan, who left the club after the end of the transfer window and claimed the fortune of playing football in Qatar.
These issues were making life difficult for Bruce, and with a lot of money also spent on signings in the summer with players such as John O’Shea, Wes Brown, and Connor Wickham, amongst others, the poor early-season form left the manager fighting a losing battle.
On this day, a goal rush in the first thirty minutes of the game gave Bruce a brief respite from the pressure that was building. With Stoke having played in Europe the previous Thursday, Tony Pulis’ side couldn’t cope with the fast start from the home side.
The first came after Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic fumbled Bramble’s shot following a corner to give the Sunderland defender his first goal for the club, before minutes later, Jonathan Woodgate headed into his own net to make it two within the half hour.
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Minutes later, a typically audacious long-range effort from Craig Gardner landed in the back of the net after a huge deflection saw the ball beat Begovic.
Ultimately, this ended the game as a contest, and when Seb Larsson cleverly placed a free-kick to make it 4-0, Bruce could breathe a sigh of relief. Pulis’ Stoke were an ‘attacking shambles’ in this game, and it was fortunate fixture scheduling that gave Sunderland one of their easiest wins of the season.
After the game, Bruce (not for the first time) lambasted the media for their apparent negative coverage of the team’s start to the season.
“The mass hysteria that has engulfed us for the last two weeks after the defeat against Newcastle has surprised me. We finished 10th last season, but we lose against Newcastle and all hell breaks loose.
“Fans are fed by the media but when they are writing this nonsense - one had me gone in 48 hours - some of the journalists have to look at themselves.
“I’ve had stick all my life, but you don’t become immune to the frenzy and nothing will derail me from the job of competing around the top 10 and given my squad and a bit of time I’m confident we can do that.”
The win was only a brief break from this coverage, as the team never could string a run of results together. In truth, this win was the exception to the rule as the club picked up only one more win in the next seven before the pressure finally told on Bruce.
Despite the manager’s protestations and claims that he was sacked because he was a Newcastle fan, the record of two wins in thirteen games seems more likely for his dismissal.
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