Gordon’s bad break stuns Black Cats

THE double substitution is either a managerial knack or an admission of desperation. Both managers chanced their arm here, but while Roy Keane was left cursing his luck all the way back to Wearside, Alan Curbishley was able to toast a precious, if unlikely, victory.

Keane may not have been in the dugout for long, but his decision to abandon a timid 4-5-1 formation at the break and discard Premier League rookies Ross Wallace and Roy O’Donovan was text book perfect: it completely transformed his side’s afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Sunderland manager, it produced only an equaliser and when Curbishley, well aware the natives were restless in east London, made his own double shake of the dice it was quickly accompanied by a huge slice of match-turning good fortune. Substitute Luis Boa Morte sent over a cross that was dispatched by substitute number two, Nolberto Solano, but it was the Black Cats goalkeeper Craig Gordon who was the goalscorer after the Peruvian’s shot bounced over the line via his ankle having first smacked into an upright. This was as much a surprise to the home fans as anybody. When the boards first went up to signal the changes the fans had been quick to tell Curbishley he didn’t know what he was doing.