Larsson stunner gives Sunderland victory

A David Vaughan scorcher and a Seb Larsson free kick gave Martin O'Neill his first victory as Sunderland manager, helping them climb out of the relegation zone at the expense of a hapless Blackburn

The game was Martin O’Neill’s first game in charge and he marked his arrival with some big changes in the team. First team regulars Nicklas Bendtner, Ji-Dong Won and Lee Cattermole were replaced by Connor Wickham, David Vaughan and Titus Bramble.

Blackburn made two changes to the squad that won against Swansea, with Michel Salgado and Simon Vukcevic coming in in place of Ruben Rochina and Junior Hoilett.


Sunderland started the game brightly, enjoying majority of the possession. Their persistence won them a few corners in the first few minutes, but Blackburn were able to defend them well.


Sessegnon was having a great day down the right flank, getting past Gael Givet regularly. He has been in good form recently and seemed that it would continue in this game as well.


In the 12^th minute, after a rare spell of possession, it was Blackburn that had a penalty shout turned down. Titus Bramble, playing his first game since September, seemed to get the ball in a sliding tackle against Yakubu, whose appeal was waved away by the referee Peter Walton.


However, it was Blackburn that took the lead just five minutes later against the run of play. A Pedersen free kick found its way to Chris Samba at the edge of the Sunderland penalty area. He took the ball past the defender and took a shot that was parried by Westwood into the path of Vukcevic, who headed in from 3 yards out.


Sunderland almost equalized in the 20^th minute. Lowe made a mess of a ball from Sessegnon, stepping over it instead of clearing, and the ball fell to Kieran Richardson but Paul Robinson made a brilliant save from Richardson’s shot to deny the Sunderland man from 6 yards out.


Sunderland kept on pushing and almost scored two minutes later, when Richardson’s shot was blocked by Jason Lowe.


They had another chance on the half hour mark, exposing the Blackburn defence horribly. The ball eventually fell to Sessegnon, whose shot went wide.


The crowd’s discontent was getting more and more apparent as Sunderland kept on trying to score, but were unable to do so.


Blackburn almost made it 2-0 in the 41^st minute. Samba tried to get his head to a free kick but his jump was restricted by Westwood clattering into him from the back. The ball found its way to Dann who headed the ball into an empty net. However, the referee incorrectly gave a foul as he believed that Samba backed into the Sunderland keeper.


The first half ended with some Sunderland fans booing their own team.


Sunderland started the second half positively as well. Larsson attempted a direct 30 yard free kick, but just narrowly missed to the left.


Sunderland hit the post three minutes later, when Richardson’s curling corner bounced off the post.


Sunderland were hitting Blackburn with wave after wave of attack, but Blackburn were defending fairly deep and fairly well.


Robinson was the hero again in the in the 65^th minute when Richardson’s deflected volley forced him into a diving save to push the ball wide.


Sunderland finally got the goal they deserved in the 84^th minute, when a poor headed clearance found its way to David Vaughan, who let rip a 25 yard scorcher that gave Paul Robinson no chance.


Sunderland were filled with belief after the goal and were literally camped inside the Blackburn half in an attempt to find the winner.


They won a free kick just outside the box in the 90^th minute, when Formica was harshly judged to have handled the ball outside the penalty area.


Sebastian Larsson stepped up and curled it over the wall past Robinson to give Sunderland their deserved injury time winner.


The final minutes in the match saw Jason Lowe being stretchered off after a collision with Larsson left him with a head injury.


The victory sees Sunderland climb out of the relegation zone into 16^th place. Blackburn, however, remain in 19^th spot with only two wins in the 15 games they’ve played this season.