Norwich vs Sunderland match report: Blacks Cats strike to reignite relegation fight and drag Canaries back into mire

Norwich 0 Sunderland 3: Fabio Borini, Jermain Defoe and Duncan Watmore reduce gap between two sides to just one point in bid for survival

Jermain Defoe celebrates with Fabio Borini after scoring Sunderland's second against Norwich (Getty)

A rare clean sheet, a not at all rare Jermain Defoe away goal and Sam Allardyce handed clear evidence that his team has the mental strength to cope with the pressure of a relegation fight - this was a potentially momentous day in Sunderland’s attempts to hold onto their Premier League lives.

Sunderland still trail their hosts by a single point, although now with the luxury of a game in hand and superior goal difference, and momentum is clearly with Allardyce’s men.

“Dealing with the pressure, that’s the key element for our victory,” said their manager. “For one, the position we’re in and, two, the team we are playing away from home - coping with both elements was key … and our clinical finishing at the right time has put the game to bed.”

Two goals, either side of half-time, both bore the fingerprints of Defoe and underlined the huge role he has played to date in his team’s attempts to climb out of trouble and will still, surely, have to play if Sunderland are to retain their top flight status.

Fabio Borini reacts after missing an early chance (Getty)

After 40 minutes, he launched a counter-attack with Fabio Borini which appeared to have run out of momentum until Andre Wisdom’s crude lunge at the striker’s ankle had Andre Marriner quite correctly pointing to the penalty spot. The former Liverpool man dusted himself down, stuttered in his approach to the ball, then calmly beat John Ruddy low into the bottom left-hand corner.

If that was a goal that summed up so many of Norwich’s shortcomings and vulnerability to the counter-attack this season, the second reinforced that analysis when Sebastien Bassong was caught in possession by Jan Kirchhoff after 53 minutes.

Borini was released down the right and his well-timed cross allowed Defoe to lose his marker in trademark fashion and slide home his 10th goal in 14 Premier League away games this season.

But if Defoe’s predatory scoring instincts, particularly on the counter-attack, are to result in survival, much, too, has to be made of the admirable spirit Allardyce has instilled in his team, personified in captain Lee Cattermole.

Norwich were predictably inspired by falling two goals behind and, with a passionate Carrow Road crowd trying to influence Marriner every time the ball entered the opposition penalty area, a home goal seemed inevitable.

Cattermole, however, had other ideas, clearing off the goalline no fewer than three times in an extraordinary three-minute spell just after the hour. First he made a relatively routine stop to keep out Dieumerci Mbokani’s shot then, in rapid succession, showed swift reflexes to deny a header from the same Norwich man and a follow-up volley from Wes Hoolahan.

That was all part of a hugely enthralling encounter in which it was impossible to avoid the huge stakes in play. Evidence of that came as early as the third minute when Robbie Brady’s clumsy push on DeAndre Yedlin sent the Sunderland man flying into an advertising hoarding, prompting an angry reaction from the visitors’ bench and players and coaches from both teams engaging in a prolonged shoving match - Allardyce central in it.

Fabio Borini celebrates after scoring a penalty for Sunderland against Norwich (Reuters)

“I got a bit carried away, with the emotions in such a big game” admitted Allardyce. “But I don’t know why they (Norwich players) came running over. I was going to protect my players and my box.

“I hope Andre doesn’t get ticked off for not doing more with me. In the end he just said: ‘Calm down will you?’ And I just said: ‘Okay, I’ll do my best.’ I didn’t know I still had that strength."

Thereafter the game swiftly settled into a pattern of Norwich possession and Sunderland threatening on the counter with Defoe and Borini.

The latter flashed a low shot across the face of goal while Brady’s cross was almost turned into his own goal by Younes Kaboul in the closest assaults on either goal before the opening penalty.

Duncan Watmore celebrates after coming off the bench to score Sunderland's third (Getty)

Norwich started the second period impressively, with substitute Nathan Redmond striking the foot of the post from 30 yards, and while Sunderland’s second goal might have killed off the contest, it did nothing to alter its pattern.

Kaboul’s challenge on Mbokani had the home supporters again screaming for a penalty, Wisdom’s cross-shot was well tipped over by Vito Mannone and Cattermole’s one-man goalline defensive master class preserved the two-goal cushion.

It might have been even more comfortable had Defoe played in Borini after substitute Duncan Watmore won possession and played him in or if Watmore himself had not squandered a three-on-one counter attack by delaying too long before attempting to find a team mate.

Instead, Sunderland and Allardyce faced an excruciating finale until the first minute of injury-time when Watmore completed the scoring, collecting a ball from Seb Larsson that passed through an under-manned home defence and allowed the substitute to draw out the keeper and finish.

“I think points are more valuable at this stage of the season,” said losing manager Alex Neil who revealed that key defender Timm Klose will probably not play again this season due to knee ligament injury. “But what we have done today is not capitalise on an unbelievable opportunity to help our cause.”

Teams

Norwich (4-2-3-1): Ruddy; Wisdom, Bennett, Bassong, Olsson; O’Neil, Howson; Jarvis (Hoolahan 59), Naismith (Jerome 73), Brady (Redmond 46); Mbokani.

Sunderland (4-1-4-1): Mannone; Yedlin, Kone, Kaboul, Van Aanholt; Kirchhoff (O’Shea 84); Borini, M’Vila (Larsson 67), Cattermole, Khazri (Watmore 46); Defoe.

Referee: A Marriner