Sunderland’s Danny Graham finds scoring touch at last to stun Everton

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/09/everton-sunderland-premier-league-match-report

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Relegation battles sometimes involve unlikely rescuers but rarely anyone quite this improbable. Centre-forwards should not be described as surprise scorers. When they are, it tends to combine criticism with mockery.

Yet when Danny Graham’s name rang around Goodison Park it was in praise and thanks. The enclave of Wearsiders celebrated a misfit who, in an instant, was transformed: the Newcastle fan turned Sunderland scorer. A lifeline came courtesy of one of the least lethal strikers in their history. Two and a half years after signing for Sunderland, 28 games into his Sunderland career, the much-maligned attacker finally found the net. So did a more regular, more reliable finisher in Jermain Defoe but Graham’s was the pivotal contribution.

Sunderland have had four managers in the time it has taken Graham to score a goal, but what a goal: not in its execution – frankly, he knew little about it – but in its importance. Sunderland, who acquired momentum in their final five games last season, may be timing their surge to safety perfectly again. They have recorded successive wins. Beat Leicester next Saturday and their task could be accomplished before the daunting end-of-season trips to Arsenal and Chelsea.

From the rubble of a dreadful campaign, Sunderland have constructed their best run of the season. They have that heady cocktail of fortune and form. “We were lucky,” said their manager, Dick Advocaat. Perhaps, after the dubious dismissal of Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse at the Stadium of Light last week, it is becoming a theme. This time, Advocaat’s charges struck twice, once in dubious circumstances, while barely recording an intentional shot on target. “Everything that could have gone against us in our box did,” said the Everton manager, Roberto Martínez, who outlined his side’s dominance in statistical terms. “We had 22 attempts at goal, 15 corners and 75 percent of possession.”

Advocaat did not attempt to sugar-coat victory. “Everton were the better side,” he added, excusing the “brilliant” Lee Cattermole but accepting that Jordi Gómez and Sebastian Larsson lost the midfield battle. “It was not a great game by our side but it was very effective and that is what counts. At some moments they outplayed us but our back five did really well, including the goalkeeper.”

At the end of an uneventful first half, Costel Pantilimon saved twice in succession when Everton scythed Sunderland open. When Leon Osman found Romelu Lukaku with a perceptive pass, Pantilimon came off his line to deny the Belgian. Ross Barkley set up a second opportunity for Osman seconds later but he repelled that, too. And when Phil Jagielka’s header was bound for the top corner, Pantilimon clawed that away.

Within five minutes, Sunderland led. Gómez’s long-range, wayward shot took a telling touch off the unwitting Graham’s heel. His account was belatedly opened. “It has been a frustrating couple of years at the football club,” said Graham, with masterly understatement. Industry had brought an unexpected reward.

“He worked hard,” said Advocaat. There was method in the manager’s apparent madness. While Graham’s presence on the score sheet was unexpected, his status on the team sheet was more understandable. He acted as the selfless, isolated target while his 10 team-mates set up camp behind the ball.

They even included Defoe, specialist predator reinvented as auxiliary right-back as he served as Billy Jones’ unlikely shield. Yet once Everton trailed, Sunderland were afforded opportunities to counterattack. Four minutes after Graham scored, Patrick van Aanholt slalomed forward to almost add a second goal, with a skied shot following a searing burst. With five minutes to go, Defoe made the most of a rare foray into enemy territory.

Graham’s replacement Steven Fletcher embarked on a winding solo run, another substitute, Adam Johnson, shot and the ball bounced off Seamus Coleman to Defoe, who turned it in. “The ball hits his arm before it goes in the net,” said Martínez who noted a second offence. “John Stones gets impeded by Fletcher,” he explained. “The two goals are very unfortunate.”

The Everton manager’s grievances with the referee, Lee Probert, included events in both boxes. “Séamus Coleman is impeded by Defoe and it is clearly a penalty,” he added.

The Spaniard’s four-year spell at Wigan provided him with an MBA in escapology from relegation. He is aware the margins are narrow. “Sometimes the difference between staying up and not is the ball James McCarthy hits that hits the post,” Martínez said. The midfielder’s 73rd-minute shot thudded back off the woodwork. Everton were denied an equaliser. Sunderland survived. It may prove a microcosm of the season.

Instead, the goal came at the other end. Graham’s replacement, Steven Fletcher, embarked on a winding solo run, another substitute, Adam Johnson, shot and the ball bounced off Coleman to Defoe, who turned it in. Perhaps he knew little about his finish either.