Sunderland and Aston Vila shared the spoils in an end to end thriller at Villa Park today. Two goals by Scott Sinclair either side of first goals fro Yann M’Vila and Jeremain Lens meant the Black Cats had to settle for a point. Both teams looked lively at times and were quick on the break throughout.
The first half began with Sunderland pressing well and keeping possession positively. It was indeed the Black Cats who opened the scoring after Danny Graham won a free-kick on the edge of the Villa area, Yann M’Vila stepped up confidently and fired the ball past Brad Guzan. The American keeper had no chance in what was an impressive first goal for the club for the Frenchman.
Sunderland took the lead for the first time this season but were only able to hang on for three minutes. Lee Cattermole brought down Scott Sinclair in the penalty area following a corner, a challenge that summed up the vice-captains first-half. Scott Sinclair scored from the spot, sending Costel Pantilimon the wrong way. From there Villa began to dominate possession, sending cross after cross into the box from the dangerous Alan Hutton. Sunderland were undone once again 5 minutes before the interval when Scott Sinclair latched onto a right wing cross to score a tap in and his second of the day.
The second half brought two changes to the Sunderland side, with Steven Fletcher replacing the poor Danny Graham, and Ola Toivonen replacing the awful Lee Cattermole to make his debut for the Black Cats.
Like the first-half, Sunderland began bright and were on the front foot from the whistle. Jeremain Lens was the man of the second half, equalising for the Black Cats following a nice ball from debutant Ola Toivonen. That’s 1 goal and 2 assists so far for Lens this season.
Aston Villa pressed from the equaliser and looked the more likely to snatch the three points with Richards, Westwood and Gana missing decent chances. In the end, the Black Cats were able to take their second point of the season, in what was a much improved away performance from the opening day defeat to Leicester.
Sunderland: Pantilimon, Jones, O’Shea, Kaboul, Van Aanholt, Cattermole (Toivonen,45), M’Vila, Rodwell, Lens (Larsson, ), Defoe, Graham (Fletcher, 45).
Aston Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Clark, Amavi, Bacuna (Gil, 68), Gana, Westwood, Sinclair, Sanchez, Gestede.
Attendance: 35,399
Man of the Match: Yann M’Vila
Match Rating: 8/10
