Kevin Phillips suffered another bout of penalty misery as Everton keeper
Richard Wright turned from villain to hero at Sunderland.
Phillips stood down as the Black Cats' spot-kick king last season after
missing three in succession, but it was he who took the responsibility this
afternoon after substitute Niall Quinn had been fouled.
But with 20 minutes remaining and his side trailing to Kevin Campbell's
28th-minute strike, the England international saw his attempt brilliantly saved
by Wright as he shook off the memories of his debut day blunder against
Tottenham last weekend.
Quinn later hit the post as Peter Reid's men scrapped desperately to retrieve
something from a game which had started so brightly for them, but in the end,
they were left to reflect on missed opportunities as the pressure mounted on the
manager.
The mood in parts of Wearside during the summer has been ugly at times, but
there had been some relief for Reid in recent days following a creditable 0-0
draw at Blackburn on the opening day of the season and the capture of Stephen
Wright and Matt Piper as the manager's search for new talent finally bore
fruit.
It was in some anticipation, therefore, that the home fans turned up at the
Stadium of Light this afternoon, and in the early stages, there was reason for
optimism as Michael Gray and Thomas Butler won the early battle on the left-hand
side hands down.
Gavin McCann and Gray had both forced Wright into action when Butler carved
his way through the Everton defence with eight minutes gone.
The Irishman picked out Phillips' near-post run with a precision cross, and
there seemed little doubt the ball would end up in the back of the net, but
Wright managed to get in a point-blank block and then looked on gratefully as
the England striker directed the rebound on to the crossbar.
Sunderland should have been in front three minutes later when Kevin Kyle
headed down Gray's ball to McCann, but he drilled his shot wide from six yards
to let the visitors off the hook once again.
However, it was then that the wheels started to come off as Thomas Gravesen
and Chinese international Li Tie made their presence felt in central midfield to
provide some service for strikers Campbell and Tomasz Radzinski.
Both men were involved in the flowing 28th-minute move which provided the
decisive action of the first half as the Canadian striker headed down Gravesen's
cross at the far post for Campbell to slide in and poke the ball past Thomas
Sorensen.
Revelling in their lead, the visitors turned the tables on their hosts as the
half wore on with the impressive Li Tie three times getting in shots from
distance to keep Sorensen on his toes and set the alarm bells ringing for the
home supporters, some of whom made their feelings known when the half-time
whistle sounded.
Phillips curled a long-range effort just over Wright's crossbar and headed
inches wide from a Jason McAteer cross, but strike partner Kyle should have
levelled after being put through by his strike partner, but as he steadied
himself, Gary Naysmith got back to make a vital challenge.
Kyle's departure as he was replaced by Piper did not go down well with
sections of the home crowd, but they were more impressed minutes later when
McAteer made way for Quinn.
The ball was in the back of the net within seconds of his arrival, but Claudio
Reyna's strike was ruled out for offside, and there was worse to come for the
Black Cats.
Quinn was impeded as he attempted to to reach Butler's 70th-minute corner and
referee Rob Styles pointed straight to the spot - but Phillips saw his penalty
brilliantly saved by Wright to increase the feeling of despair hanging over the
stadium.
The big Irishman suffered no better fortune three minutes later when he
managed to get his head to another Butler corner, only to see the ball hit the
post.
Phillips was presented with a promising opportunity 12 minutes from time when
Piper found him inside the box, but he sliced his shot on the turn well wide of
Wright's left post as hopes of a fightback faded.
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook