Sunderland old boy Michael Bridges came back to haunt his former club as he
fired Leeds to victory in the top-of-the-table showdown.
Bridges struck six minutes after the break to add to Jason Wilcox's
24th-minute opener - his first for the club - and it looked like the Premiership
leaders were coasting.
But a mistake by Jonathan Woodgate allowed Kevin Phillips to pull one back
within a minute with his 20th of the season to set up a tense finish.
The Yorkshiremen extended their lead over Manchester United to four points
after successive league defeats by Arsenal and Aston Villa, but they were made
to fight all the way by a Sunderland side looking for their first win of the
year.
The Wearsiders lacked a cutting edge in the absence of the suspended Niall
Quinn, but battled manfully to force their way back into a game which rapidly
slipping away from them.
Both Woodgate and Bowyer, in the media spotlight this week after being
arrested and interviewed - then released on bail and not charged pending further enquiries - by police over an assault on an Asian teenager, had
relatively quiet afternoons, but there were solid performances from Michael
Duberry and Stephen McPhail and some nice touches from Bridges.
Leeds boss David O'Leary kept faith with Bowyer and Woodgate and their
inclusion was greeted warmly by the travelling supporters at the Stadium of
Light when the teams were announced.
There were two changes to the side which beat Manchester City 5-2 in the FA
Cup a fortnight ago, Bridges replacing the suspended Alan Smith and Duberry
coming into central defence for Lucas Radebe, away on African Nations Cup duty
with South Africa.
Peter Reid made three changes to the side which went down 4-1 at Arsenal last
weekend with Kevin Kilbane coming in for Quinn, and Chris Makin and Nicky
Summerbee were left out following a reported training ground bust-up, Darren
Williams and Alex Rae returning to the starting 11.
Chelsea and Manchester United among others have already found to their cost
this season that Sunderland fly out of the blocks at home, and O'Leary's young
guns were in no mood to be overwhelmed as they matched their hosts for passion
in the early stages.
Indeed, the visitors could have taken the lead within three minutes when
Wilcox and Bridges combined to find Bowyer in acres of space down the right, but
he drove his low shot just wide.
The absence of Quinn and Summerbee in particular meant there was little
service into the box for the Wearsiders, and even when full-back Michael Gray
and Kilbane managed to get into promising positions down the left, Duberry had
little difficulty in overcoming the diminutive Phillips in the middle.
Kilbane shot just wide on 12 minutes after Bowyer gifted possession to Alex
Rae, and Gavin McCann tested Nigel Martyn with a speculative long-range effort
six minutes later.
The England keeper had to pull off a superb 21st-minute save from Phillips
after McCann intercepted a poor pass from Wilcox, but it was just as the home
side were enjoying their best period of the half that they fell behind.
McPhail's brilliant ball found Wilcox in space on the left and he drilled an
unstoppable 20-yard shot past Thomas Sorensen to open the scoring with 24
minutes gone.
Reid's side had a great opportunity on 38 minutes when Williams picked out
Eric Roy's run into the box, but Rae's lunge took the cross off the
better-placed Kilbane's toe.
But Leeds were gradually imposing a stranglehold on the game and should really
have increased their lead before the break, Harry Kewell failing to find Bridges
in the middle after racing away from Williams and then heading high and wide
from a teasing Bridges cross in injury time.
The injured Gray was replaced by Darren Holloway at the break, but the game
looked over within six minutes when Bridges finally got his reward for a
battling display.
Wilcox again found space down the left and delivered the perfect cross for the
striker to deflect the ball past the helpless Sorensen.
But if the celebrating Leeds fans thought that was that, they were soon
corrected as Sunderland grabbed a lifeline within a minute.
Woodgate made an uncharacteristic blunder as he tried to deal with a long ball
and the delighted Phillips sprinted clear before firing a low shot past Martyn
to put his side right back in it.
Bowyer squandered an excellent chance on 61 minutes after McPhail's corner
reached him on the edge of the box and it was the home side which started to
exert the pressure as the minutes ticked away.
Leeds were fortunate to escape with 65 minutes gone when they failed to deal
with McCann's deep free-kick and Phillips and substitute Michael Reddy both had
efforts blocked in a desperate scramble.
Phillips sent a header just wide 15 minutes from time, and Duberry just
managed to fight off the striker three minutes later after slipping as the pair
chased a through ball.
Defender Paul Butler had a close range shot deflected over as Sunderland laid
siege to the United goal in the dying minutes, but there was to be no late
reprieve.
Teams:
Sunderland: Sorensen, Williams, Butler, Bould (Craddock 76),
Gray (Holloway 45), Kilbane, Rae, Roy (Reddy 63), McCann,Schwarz, Phillips.
Subs Not Used: Marriott, Oster.
Goals: Phillips 52.
Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Woodgate, Duberry, Harte, Wilcox, Bakke,
Bowyer, McPhail, Bridges (Huckerby 74), Kewell.
Subs Not Used: Haaland, Robinson, Mills, Jones.
Booked: Bakke.
Goals: Wilcox 24, Bridges 50.
Att: 41,947
Ref: P Jones (Loughborough).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook