Sunderland climb out of the drop zone with vital win

Sunderland 2 Birmingham 0

Sunderland new boy Rade Prica made a dream start to his career in England as he helped fire his side out of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.

The 27-year-old Sweden international scored once, had another disallowed and was then denied at the death by Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor in a stunning cameo at the Stadium of Light.

His 66th-minute strike, a deft finish as he capitalised on an error by defender Liam Ridgewell, ultimately secured the points after Daryl Murphy had put the home side ahead with a close-range 15th-minute finish.

City had briefly threatened to drag themselves back into the game when Cameron Jerome forced an excellent 39th-minute save from goalkeeper Craig Gordon, but in truth, the Blues left the north-east with exactly what they merited after being out-played for much of the game.

The victory took the Black Cats on to 23 points for the season, still significantly short of what they will need to survive, but successive home league wins over Bolton, Portsmouth and now Birmingham have increased belief that they can avoid the drop.

Certainly the bulk of the 37,674 fans who turned up at the Stadium of Light on a bitterly cold evening headed home reassured as well as relieved.

Sunderland started the game knowing a fourth home league victory in six attempts would lift them out of the drop zone and deepen Birmingham’s problems, and they set about their task in determined fashion.

New £2million signing Phil Bardsley made his debut at right-back, but it was £6million striker Kenwyne Jones who once again led by example as he put central defenders Liam Ridgewell and Rafael Schmitz to the sternest of tests.

The Trinidad and Tobago international was simply too hot to handle, and while he initially appeared to have left his shooting boots behind, the attention the visitors had to pay to him inevitably created space for others.

Anthony Stokes, playing wide on the left-hand side of midfield, and Murphy were the main beneficiaries as the Black Cats set about the task of breaking down the visitors.

Jones’ reward for his early exertions was not to find his name on the scoresheet once again, but when the opening goal did arrive with 15 minutes gone, he inevitably had a major hand in it.

The towering striker easily climbed high above the Birmingham defence to head down Bardsley’s deep free-kick, where the waiting Murphy, gleefully stabbed his shot past Taylor from six yards with no blue shirt in a position to do anything about it.

It might have been 2-0 on 28 minutes had Stokes’ cross been a foot closer to Jones as he raced in on goal leaving defenders in his wake, and skipper Dean Whitehead and Liam Miller both threatened with late runs into the box as City wilted.

However, with the second goal having failed to arrive, the Black Cats were served with a timely warning six minutes before the break.

Jerome, handed the task of forming a new-look frontline with £5million signing James McFadden, ran clear of the home defence to collect Ridgewell’s long ball, and only a fine save from £9million Gordon denied him.

Keane made a change at the break when he sent on £2million signing Prica in place of the struggling Yorke, but his side was under pressure again within seconds.

City midfielder Olivier Kapo picked up the ball wide on the left and drilled in a powerfully-struck shot which had Gordon diving anxiously to his right as the ball sped past the post.

There was a scare for the home side on 64 minutes when Nyron Nosworthy’s header back to Gordon gave Jerome enough encouragement to follow the ball in, although his challenge on the keeper resulted only in a free-kick.

However, Ridgewell was not so fortunate at the other end when he too failed to put enough on a header back to Taylor and Prica could scracely believe his fortune and he raced in to lift the ball over the goalkeeper to mark his debut with a precious goal.

He might have doubled his tally had referee Mark Halsey not chalked off a 76th-minute effort for handball as he bundled home a deep cross with the City defence in disarray.

Birmingham fought desperately for a way back into the game, but with the home side repeatedly hitting them on the counter, never looked like rescuing the game.

Indeed, had Taylor not pulled off a solid reaction save three minutes from time, Prica would have collected his second with a bullet header at the back post three minutes from time as a remarkable first appearance drew to a close.