Sunderland - 2 (Kyle 46. Stewart 90.)
Crystal Palace - 1 (Johnson 90.)

To play the team tipped to do well this season, having come down from the Premiership last term, was always going to prove a test. Sunderland are renowned for winning their matches 1-0, so their defensive record must be very impressive. To date they had only conceded one goal, so Palace were going to have to be at their best for this visit to our far northern neighbours.

The first half produced a fair bit of action, but no goals for either side. Palace were missing a number of their first choice players, thus would have been pleased with the state of affairs at this time. Sunderland had the first chance of the match when Jason McAteer crossed the ball into the path of Kevin Kyle, who sent his header wide of the goalmouth.

Sean Thornton hit a free kick straight at the Palace defensive wall, though previously Andy Johnson saw his shot at goal well saved by Mart Poom. Michael Hughes received a yellow card for a tackle on Thornton, but the most dangerous aspect of the first period of play came when Kyle failed to net the ball after Cedric Berthelin spilt a corner kick. It would have mattered little though, as he was flagged offside before he missed the attempt, so maybe he did not try quite as much as he might.

Steve Kember would have been pleased with the performance of his charges during this time, and would have been telling them that the match was there to be won.

Of course, the wheels fell off right at the start of the second half, as Kyle chested the ball down, turned and fired. Although Cedric managed to get a hand to the ball it still nestled in the back of the goal, and suddenly we were fighting an uphill battle. They nearly got a second as John Oster snapped a shot at goal, but this time Cedric did well to keep the ball out. Palace brought Ben Watson on for Kit Symons, but little changed until very nearly the end of the match.

With only about a minute remaining on the clock Wayne Routledge fired a ball into the centre, and Andy Johnson sprinted past George McCartney, unleashing a shot that left Poom little chance. His only action was to pick the ball up from the back of the net, and we were suddenly back on level terms. There was more drama to come though, as a corner to Sunderland, deep into injury time brought about an appeal for handball, which was upheld by the referee. Marcus Stewart stepped up, and sent Cedric the wrong way, and with the last kick of the game Sunderland had stolen all three points.

So now we host Bradford City on Tuesday, with a win being at the top of our priorities, surely this current run of poor results cannot continue much longer. Our start to the season was so good, that wins should start flowing again soon. Shortly we will be back in Cup action, and a priority must be to make it to the next round, for a possible tie against a big Premiership Club.

Colin Pryce

Sunderland: Mart Poom, Gary Breen, George McCartney, Julio Arca, Thomas Butler (Michael Procter 81), Jason McAteer (Colin Healy 34), Paul Thirlwell, Sean Thornton, Darren Williams (John Oster 45), Kevin Kyle, Marcus Stewart.

Substitutes not used: Michael Ingham, Ben Clark.

Crystal Palace: Cedric Berthelin, Danny Butterfield, Curtis Fleming, Hayden Mullins, Jamie Smith (Gary Borrowdale 75), Kit Symons (Ben Watson 60), Shaun Derry, Michael Hughes, Andrew Johnson, Wayne Routledge (Aki Riihilahti 90), Neil Shipperley.

Substitutes not used: Lance Cronin, Gareth Williams.

Attendance: 27,324

Referee: Mr G Salisbury