Gyan finally starts to show class but Pulis is up in arms

Sunderland 2 Stoke City

Asamoah Gyan marked his full Premier League debut with two goals, but it was an incident in between them which left Stoke City raging about what might have been.

With the Potters pushing for an equaliser 19 minutes from time, Kenwyne Jones rose highest to meet a corner. The players and officials were so obsessed by whether it had crossed the line that no one seemed to notice that it had been blocked by the upper arm of Lee Cattermole.

No one except Tony Pulis, that is. The Stoke manager said afterwards: "It was a game-changing decision, and that's six given against us in the last 11 games. Lee Cattermole would have been sent off, we'd hope to score the penalty and then it's 11 v 10 with 20 minutes to go; a completely different game."

The position of the television cameras made video replays inconclusive, but one thing was clear – the referee, Martin Atkinson was wrongto give a corner.

Signed for £13 million in August, Gyan had to wait until yesterday to play 90 minutes for Sunder- land because of their unbeaten run that ended spectacularly at St James' Park six days earlier.

Bruce's problem has been accommodating his record signings of the past two summers, Gyan and Darren Bent, in a formation which allows for only one centre-forward. His switch to 4-4-2 coincided with the first Sunderland game Bent has missed through injury, a hamstring damaged in training on Friday.

The rethink paid quick dividends as Gyan continued his habit of making an early impression. The Ghanaian scored on his Sunderland debut, and his maiden start, in the League Cup, and it took just nine minutes of his full Premier League debut for the striker to net again.

When Nedum Onuoha fired Sunderland's first shot of the afternoon from an AhmedAl-Muhammadi cross, Gyan tapped in the rebound.

Gyan and Bent remain the only two Wearside players to have found the net this season, however, and that lack of a cutting edge was evident even from the penalty spot. Steed Malbranque's reverse pass created the opportunity, but it was a surprise that he stepped forward to take the spot-kick after Jonathan Walters had hauled down Gyan. Malbranque has not scored in the Premier League since December 2008, and Asmir Begovic dived left to save his weak shot.

Ryan Shawcross's second yellow card in the 83rd minute made Stoke's task of righting their injustice harder, but it was Kieran Richardson's introduction which finally sealed the game. In the final ten minutes he saw a free-kick hit the wall and a long-range shot curl just the wrong way past the far post before Robert Huth touched his cross into the path of Gyan, who drilled home in the 86th minute.

Sunderland's manager, Steve Bruce, said: "It's been a tough week and I'm pleased the young players have learned from it. We've repaired some damage and showed what we are made of."

Attendance: 36,541

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Man of the match: Gyan

Match rating: 6/10