Fletcher doubles up to secure first away win

EVEN another spectacular own goal could not prevent Sunderland picking up their first away win of the season as it proved to be all white on the night for the Black Cats.

Steven Fletcher’s first-half goal was cancelled out by an own goal by Wes Brown, but Jordi Gomez slotted in stylishly from distance before Fletcher notched his second in stoppage time, after Mile Jedinak was dismissed for Palace.

In recent weeks, it felt like a case of déjà vu when Brown put through his own net in the second half, but despite a Palace onslaught, Sunderland absorbed the pressure and grabbed an unlikely winner.

Most importantly for Gus Poyet, the victory stops the rot and propels the Black Cats out of the Premier League relegation zone, after a game where most of the luck went the way of the Wearsiders for once.

Having had a full week plus the weekend to recover from their 2-0 defeat at home to Arsenal, Sunderland looked just as shell-shocked in the opening exchanges at Selhurst Park as they did in the closing seconds at the Stadium of Light last weekend.

Wearing an all-new white third kit to prevent a clash with Palace’s red and blue colour scheme, Sunderland were as pale as their new shirts with 23 seconds on the clock when Santiago Vergini hauled down former Sunderland striker Fraizer Campbell. The Argentina international saw nothing of the ball, yet referee Phil Dowd inexplicably waved play on.

Palace piled forward, with their orders to rattle their visitors, but Sunderland weathered the storm and scored the opening goal of the evening against the run of play.

Patrick van Aanholt got it started, passing short to Connor Wickham, who returned the favour to the Dutchman who was played onside by Brede Hangeland, and van Aanholt’s cross was nodded home by Fletcher, who had wriggled free of marker Stephen Ward.

Van Aanholt had been a bright spark for Sunderland early on, but his night ended moments later when racing alongside Wilfried Zaha, the full-back put a challenge in which drew appeals for a penalty but saw the former Chelsea man stricken with a shoulder injury.

Vergini moved to right-back after van Aanholt’s injury, with debutant Anthony Reveillere swapping sides, and Vergini piled forward moments before the interval, enjoying a decent effort on goal which Julian Speroni pushed to safety.

Wes Brown was introduced following van Aanholt’s injury, and did well to block a Zaha shot moments after the interval, as Sunderland faced an onslaught of Palace pressure from the kick-off.

Costel Pantilimon had been handed the nod by Gus Poyet after Vito Mannone’s errors against Arsenal, and the former Manchester City stopper was on his mettle to stop Zaha’s shot low to his right in the 51st minute.

But Sunderland have developed a remarkable knack for shooting themselves in the foot from a position of relative safety, and Palace found themselves on level terms on 57 minutes, courtesy of yet another Black Cats own goal – their fourth in 16 days.

Brown was the scorer, adroitly poking home Fraizer Campbell’s backheel past Pantilimon after Sunderland’s goalkeeper did superbly to deny Merouane Chamakh on the goalline.

Pantilimon, who had performed admirably in Mannone’s stead, was furious to concede, taking his anger out on the Selhurst Park goalpost. His anger was understandable when replays showed how well he did to prevent Chamakh from point-blank range.

The visitors rallied, and Vergini had another crack at goal on 62 minutes when his control-and-shot was well stopped by Speroni.

Pantilimon denied Zaha on 65 minutes as the game zipped from end to end but as time went on, it was Palace who were enjoying the greater possession as Sunderland could not string a move together.

But for all Sunderland’s laboured efforts at creating any intensity whatsoever, they found themselves back in the lead on 79 minutes.

Will Buckley found Gomez on the edge of the box with a simple square ball, and the summer signing from Wigan Athletic took a touch and stroked his effort into the bottom right corner.

After suffering such bad fortune with the equaliser, it looked like being Sunderland’s night for once, more so when Jedinak received his marching orders three minutes from time for a second bookable offence after bringing Gomez down on the halfway line.

And the victory was complete deep into stoppage time when Liam Bridcutt, on as a substitute, robbed Dwight Gayle and slotted in Fletcher whose classy finish capped a superb night’s work for Sunderland.