No smiles for free-falling Sunderland

FOR Roy Keane the last straw was when Niall Quinn asked him to put a smile on the faces of his Sunderland players.

After this latest inept display, which keeps them well and truly embroiled in the relegation battle, they would no doubt require a plastic surgeon to achieve that feat, such was the collective gloom as they were accompanied off by a cacophony of abuse from their own supporters.

Amazingly, they remain the highest-placed of the Premier League’s north-east clubs, that three-headed hydra of footballing ineptitude, but a cursory glance at the table – Sunderland are four points clear of trouble in 16th with three games left – reveals that is akin to winning a popularity contest between bankers, estate agents and journalists.

Second-half goals from Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellaini saw Everton saunter to their first away victory in eight trips since Boxing Day – unsurprisingly, that was at Middlesbrough – to usurp Aston Villa in fifth position.

“It’s our aim to try and stay ahead of them but fifth or sixth will constitute a good season for us,” said David Moyes, who has now gathered more than 400 Premier League points in his seven years at the helm on Merseyside.

Just three would in all probability be enough for Sunderland to secure a third consecutive season in the top flight, although after this display, where the only thing their players were good at passing was the buck, where that could come from is difficult to see.

“We seemed to accept our fate once the first goal went in and we were a bit fragile,” admitted Ricky Sbragia, the manager whose safety-first approach has seemed to increasingly stultify any sense of adventure in his players.

“Fear definitely plays a part in it. With the way the other results have gone a win would have really pushed us up the table and given us a bit of daylight on the teams below.

“There was not enough effort or desire for me and we were careless on the ball, we could have had more from the players. We could have been more motivated and we didn’t seem to have a right go. Too many of our key players didn’t perform.”

Those are heavy words rather lightly thrown but a damning indictment of a team in such a perilous predicament, whose only real shot on target was a long distance Kieran Richardson free-kick, easily saved by Tim Howard, midway through the second-half.

The result was not in doubt once Pienaar claimed his second goal of the season three minutes after the re-start, poking the ball home under Marton Fulop from six yards after he was released by an incisive short pass from Jo, who came closest to breaking the deadlock during an insipid first half when Everton’s loan forward fired across the face of goal from a narrow angle.

The outstanding Pienaar, whose pace and energy posed problems for Sunderland all afternoon, played a prominent role in the second 19 minutes from time, taking Phil Neville’s lofted pass to send over a centre which Marouane Fellaini swept home from close range for his ninth goal of the season.

Victory would have been secured by an even more handsome margin had not Tim Cahill headed wide under pressure from Phil Bardsley as they challenged for a Dan Gosling cross.

“We were at the bottom of the table when I first came here and confidence takes a knock because of that,” added Moyes, attempting to offer some words of comfort for his opposite number, whose tenure beyond the summer, even if relegation is avoided, appears increasingly remote.

“We knew the first goal would be vitally important because if you’re at the bottom then you’re low on confidence, and that can evaporate very quickly.”

That is a fair description of Sunderland at present. On paper, Saturday’s trip to Bolton Wanderers would appear to offer little chance of respite in a season of unremitting gloom that could still yet culminate in an unwanted passage into the Championship.

“We will sit down and analyse where we went wrong, and hope there’s three teams out there who are worse than us,” Sbragia added.

On this evidence, it appears a forlorn hope and probably the only person able to raise a smile at their continued fall from grace is the new Ipswich Town manager.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire) 6: A decent display from the referee who proved consistent throughout the game.

MATCH RATING: ** One of the poorest first-halves of football you will see all season. Marginally better thereafter but that will matter little to Everton, who thoroughly deserved the win.