Chopra brace marks emotional comeback
The 24-year-old emerged from personal problems which saw him head for the Sporting Chance clinic during his recent enforced lay-off to remind the red and white faithful exactly what he is capable of with a match-winning display.
Manager Roy Keane admitted after the game that his side had ridden their luck, but there was nothing fortunate about Chopra’s contribution.
He joined the fray as a 45th-minute replacement for the injured Teemu Tainio and immediately brought fresh impetus to a side which had laboured through what had gone before.
However, it was in the final nine minutes of the game that he made his impact, first exchanging passes with Kieran Richardson before slotting the opening goal past Ross Turnbull, and then accepting a gift from Steed Malbranque to wrap up the points.
Chopra said: “I have been grateful to the manager for giving me time away. It’s been hard for me. Funnily enough, when I left the house yesterday to go to the hotel, I said to my little boy, Sebastian, ‘I’m going to get a goal for you’, and I got two, so he’ll be happy.”
The arrivals of Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf during the close season have significantly increased competition for places in attack, but it was Chopra who shone on Saturday.
Chopra said: “I believe if I get the chance to score goals, I will put them away because I have got a load of belief in my ability, and with the players the manager has brought in, I am going to get a lot of chances.
“He (Keane) has brought some top-class players in and the only way you are going to get better is to learn from them and to play with them. I know if want to be part of this football club, I have got to be scoring goals.”
However, the story might have been very different had it not been for the differing contributions of Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon and Boro winger Stewart Downing.
Gordon made crucial first-half saves from both the England international and Afonso Alves, who was only restored to the starting line-up after Mido withdrew with a groin injury after the warm-up, to keep his side level with the Teessiders dominating.
But Downing was handed a glorious opportunity to win the game for the visitors when referee Howard Webb pointed to the spot after Nyron Nosworthy had clipped Jeremie Aliadiere’s heels 15 minutes from time.
The midfielder had driven his last spot-kick against the crossbar, but in his determination to make sure this time, he blasted the ball high over to hand the Black Cats a reprieve.
Michael Chopra has scored three goals in his last two starts against Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light
Five of the six goals Boro have conceded away from home have been shipped in the last 10 minutes of matches.
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