Quinn spares Reid from the wrath of Wearside

Sunderland 2 Charlton Athletic

Niall Quinn might be suffering from chronic back pain, but Sunderland's totemic striker brought mighty relief to his manager yesterday. Two goals in two minutes from the head of the towering Irishman not only turned the tide of the match at the Stadium of Light but also the mood of the crowd, who were audibly turning on Peter Reid.

With 15 minutes to go, Sunderland were facing the prospect of their second home defeat in four days, trailing 2­0 to goals that came courtesy of two glaring goalkeeping errors by Jurgen Macho. The natives, already annoyed with Reid's penny-pinching recruitment policy and with Sunderland's unimpressive form so far this season, were getting distinctly restless. The Sunderland manager was booed when he vacated his pitch-side seat and walked to the apron of the pitch. But then Quinn rose to the rescue ­ and the threatened uprising could wait for another day.

"I can understand it, at 2­0 down," Reid said, when asked about the crowd's hostility. "Worse things have been said about me, don't you worry." But Sunderland's supporters are worried ­ for one thing about Reid's policy of playing with left-footers on the right wing.

He altered his tactics yesterday, deploying a 4­3­3 formation and Lilian Laslandes, called into frontline duty alongside Quinn and Kevin Phillips, sent a glancing header inches over Dean Kiely's crossbar in the second minute. Julio Arca also forced a fine point-blank save from Kiely but when Macho dropped his second clanger of the week in the 10th minute Sunderland were playing catch-up.

Beaten by Christian Ziege's 40-yard cross on Wednesday night, the Austrian failed to cut out Paul Konchesky's right-wing corner, the stray ball cannoning into the home goal off the heads of Shaun Bartlett and Quinn. It was a gift Charlton might have added to before half-time. Mark Fish beat Macho with a header from another Konchensky corner, but Michael Gray cleared off the line.

There was a greater urgency about Sunderland's play after the break ­ and greater invention, too. Three times in as many minutes Kiely was called upon to rescue his side, most notably with a one-handed save that kept out a stinging Quinn volley. Just as Sunderland were promising to take control, though, Macho messed up again, in the 61st minute.

Steve Brown was as surprised as anyone in the ground when his header from the right edge of the penalty area, following a Luke Young throw-in, looped into the far top corner of the net past the statuesque Sunderland goalkeeper. It looked bleak for the Black Cats. But with 15 minutes left, Phillips crossed from the left and Quinn's header at the far post was too powerful for Kiely. Three minutes later McCann clipped a free-kick to the right edge of the six-yard box and Quinn headed in again. Sunderland ­ and their manager ­ could breathe a sigh of relief.

Sunderland 2

Quinn 74, 77

Charlton Athletic 2

Bartlett 11, Brown 61

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 46,825