Nemeth condemns Sunderland to derby loss

Middlesbrough 3 Sunderland 0

Middlesbrough’s forgotten man Szilard Nemeth served up a reminder of his talent with a gilt-edged double to condemn Sunderland to derby defeat.

The Slovakian international, who has for so long had to live in the shadow of Croatian Alen Boksic and record singing Massimo Maccarone, returned from a hamstring injury to stake his claim for first team football with a match-winning display.

Nemeth opened the scoring with just 16 minutes gone, pouncing on a slip by Thomas Sorensen after Maccarone had chanced his arm from distance.

Having seen his Italian strike partner double his side’s advantage with a bullet header before the break, he then sealed the points with a beautifully taken third goal with 66 minutes gone.

Had it not been for the heroics of Sorensen, who atoned for his earlier error with a fine stop to deny the former Inter Bratislava front man a hat-trick, he would have capped a fine evening’s work by collecting the match ball.

Boro’s performance was good enough to send the vast majority of a crowd of 32,155 home with smiles on their faces as Sunderland’s derby misery continued.

The Black Cats, who took just one of the 12 points on offer against their north-east rivals last season, worked hard throughout, but never really tested Mark Schwarzer on a night when the injured Kevin Phillips was badly missed.

Guest of honour Brian Clough scored goals in abundance for both Boro and Sunderland during his glittering playing career, something neither club has done with any great regularity in recent times.

In a bid to rectify that situation, respective managers Steve McClaren and Peter Reid spent the summer attempting to add striking talent to their respective armouries, the Teessiders breaking their club record fee to recruit 22-year-old Maccarone and the Black Cats pouncing just ahead of the transfer deadline to add Tore Andre Flo and Marcus Stewart to the pay roll.

Reid’s investment looked all the more timely in the hours leading up to kick-off when it was revealed that star hitman Phillips will be sidelined for up to six weeks after surgery on a hernia.

But it was his opposite number who was able to bask in the warm glow of at least half a job well done when Alan Wiley’s whistle brought a temporary halt to proceedings.

Nemeth pounced on Sorensen’s error as he failed to hold Maccarone’s 16th-minute long-range effort.

But better was to come eight minutes before the break when the Italian helped himself to his third Boro goal by powering home a header from Franck Queudrue’s driven free-kick to make it 2-0.

Few would argue that the Teessiders deserved their lead, although Sunderland will play worse this season and not suffer as badly.

The difference at both ends of the pitch was simply that the Teessiders were the more decisive.

Maccarone, Nemeth and Joseph Job managed to create space for themselves where Flo and Stewart could not as Matt Piper and Thomas Butler prospered on the flanks.

Gareth Southgate, Ugo Ehiogu and Colin Cooper consistently got to the ball ahead of the men they were marking, where Joachim Bjorklund and Phil Babb could not.

Claudio Reyna, who found himself fighting back the tide in central midfield as the impressive Jonathan Greening and Geremi prompted from deep, saw a 39th-minute free-kick deflected wide with Mark Schwarzer stranded, but that was as close as his side came to grabbing a lifeline before the break.

There was never any doubt that Reid’s side would come out with all guns blazing after the break, and they gradually built up a head of steam to suggest that there could be a twist in the tail.

Flo twice headed wide form Reyna corners when he should perhaps have done better, but the home side for once looked less than rock solid at the back.

In the meantime, Job had served warning of his side’s ability to break at pace when he linked up with Queudrue and Nemeth to force an excellent save from Sorensen with a well-struck shot.

But with the Black Cats throwing caution to the wind, they were undone again with 66 minutes gone as the Teessiders turned defence into attack at blistering pace.

Maccarone picked up possession inside his own half and headed towards goal before spotting Nemeth surging through the middle completely unmarked.

The Italian’s pass was weighted to perfection to allow his strike partner to draw Sorensen before lifting the ball over him and into the empty net.

It could have been 4-0 within two minutes when Nemeth turned Babb and Bjorklund inside out before sending in a curling shot which Sorensen turned away superbly, but there was simply no way back for the visitors.

Schwarzer dived full length to claim a Reyna free-kick 10 minutes from time and kept out a Stephen Wright drive at the death, but that was as difficult as his evening’s work got.