SUNDERLAND 0 LEICESTER 2

FINE margins settle football games, just as they can sometimes dictate the outcome of a season. This was an afternoon that highlighted just how little difference there is between a Sunderland side sitting in the relegation zone and a Leicester City team that will almost certainly be celebrating the league title next month. Yet at the same time, it also helped explain why the two clubs could well be inhabiting different divisions come August.

Unlike their North-East neighbours, Newcastle United, who are set to join them in the Championship next season, Sunderland do not lack desire. Their commitment cannot be questioned, their willingness to give their all for the cause is clear. There is a spirit and organisation to their play, particularly since the arrival of Sam Allardyce, that is not normally discernible in a side that is deep in the relegation mire.

Yet they continue to come up with ways of losing football matches, and that, ultimately, is why they remain four points adrift of 17th-placed Norwich City ahead of Saturday’s likely drop-zone decider at Carrow Road.

Leicester, whose failure to test Vito Mannone at all in the opening 58 minutes was perhaps reflective of an understandable nervousness as the finishing line draws near, took the first gilt-edged chance that came their way. Sunderland’s defenders, who had been excellent for more than an hour, switched off momentarily, and Jamie Vardy took advantage as he outpaced Younes Kaboul to roll a low shot into the corner.

Sunderland had an equally inviting chance to equalise, but after finding himself unmarked as a deflected shot fell into his path eight yards from goal, Jack Rodwell opened up his body and ballooned a side-footed shot over the crossbar.

Two decisive moments; one chance taken, one spurned. Vardy’s second goal, scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time, confirmed Sunderland’s fate, but it was the Black Cats’ failure to convert the openings that came their way that ultimately proved decisive. That, and a glaring defensive aberration that is sadly also in keeping with much that has already happened in the opening seven months of the campaign.

Yesterday’s defeat means Sunderland have now won just one of their last 11 matches. There have been plenty of hard-luck stories along the way, a handful of heart-breaking last-minute concessions and precious few really poor performances. But the harsh reality is that a tally of nine points from the last available 33 is relegation form.

The oldest adage of all says that the league table doesn’t lie, and Sunderland’s plight is the result of a recurring failure in both boxes. They don’t take their chances, and they continue to leak soft goals. Clearly, that is not a good combination.

Leicester, on the other hand, continue to find a way to take maximum points. This was not their most fluent performance of the season, but their last five matches have now resulted in four 1-0 wins and this 2-0 success. As Manchester United can attest from years gone by, at the business end of the season, that is the form of champions.

The visitors started well enough on Wearside, with N’Golo Kante, surely the signing of the season, imperious at the heart of midfield, Riyad Mahrez displaying flashes of inspiration from the right-hand side and Vardy his usual industrious self, scurrying here, there and everywhere in an attempt to pull defenders out of position.

Wes Morgan should have done better with an early headed chance from a corner that he failed to direct anywhere near the target, but with Kaboul producing a series of important blocks and interceptions and both Lee Cattermole and Jan Kirchhoff working tirelessly at the heart of midfield, Sunderland settled.

Both sides had first-half penalty appeals turned down – Sunderland’s when Patrick van Aanholt’s pull-back struck Robert Huth on the arm as the defender slid to the floor and Leicester’s when Mahrez’s shot hit Kaboul’s arm as he turned his back on the ball – but if anything, the first half ended with the home side on top.

Kasper Schmeichel was forced to make a fine save with his legs when Fabio Borini fired in a shot that deflected off Wes Morgan, but while he found the target on that occasion, the Italian was much more profligate after the break.

For all that Borini’s energy has added something to Sunderland’s attacking in the last few games, he has scored just three goals all season, and the lack of a reliable goalscoring alternative to Jermain Defoe is one of the Wearsiders’ biggest faults.

Twice Borini was presented with decent second-half openings, but the first chance came to nothing when he dragged a shot wide from the edge of the area and the second was spurned when he lashed over from an inviting position after Defoe’s effort was deflected into his path.

The misses proved crucial as Leicester broke the deadlock themselves midway through the second half. Danny Drinkwater’s through ball could be described as ‘routine’, but it carved Sunderland’s defence apart, leaving the previously-impressive Kaboul one-on-one against Vardy. Kaboul was outpaced, Vardy galloped into the area, and with a composure that was lacking in Sunderland’s attackers, the England international stroked a controlled finish into the net.

Sunderland’s plight was neatly summed up by Borini’s attempted half-volley, which he somehow directed into his own face, and their struggles were also encapsulated by Rodwell’s glaring miss with eight minutes left.

Van Aanholt’s shot deflected into the substitute’s path, and with the goal seemingly at his mercy, he side-footed over from eight yards. Having missed two equally inviting opportunities in the 1-0 defeat at West Ham, Rodwell’s misses have now become a key facet of Sunderland’s season.

Mannone did his best to keep Sunderland in the game from that point onwards, producing fine saves to keep out close-range efforts from Vardy and substitute Daniel Amartey, but Leicester confirmed their success in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Vardy was left one-on-one with van Aanholt as Sunderland pushed forward in search of an equaliser, and after surging past the full-back, the Premier League’s second leading goalscorer prodded the ball past Mannone and rolled into an empty net.

The win means Leicester need to win three of their remaining five matches in order to be guaranteed the Premier League title. Sunderland, on the other hand, know three wins from six is probably a minimum requirement if they are to remain in the top-flight.