SUNDERLAND 3 EVERTON 0

SUNDERLAND have become masters of the Great Escape in recent years, but never have they fashioned a survival act that felt quite as sweet as this. Not only will the Black Cats remain in the Premier League next season, their success in avoiding the drop has condemned their fiercest rivals, Newcastle, to the Championship. Achieve one feat worth celebrating, get an even more enjoyable one for free.

This was an evening that will go down in Wearside folklore. Had it just been the game that secured Sunderland’s survival, it would have been celebrated raucously for the next few weeks.

That it was also the night that saw Sunderland relegate Newcastle means it will be remembered fondly for generations to come. Forget winning six in a row, this was a derby victory that was sweeter than any other.

It was also a night that emphatically confirmed Sunderland’s right to a continued place in the top-flight, and underlined the extent of the improvement that has carried Sam Allardyce’s side to a position that had looked all but unthinkable as they languished in 19th position as recently as late February.

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Patrick van Aanholt celebrates with Sunderland manager Sam Alladyce after opening the scoring. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Yes, Everton were dreadfully inadequate opposition, and it will be a miracle if Roberto Martinez survives beyond the end of a season that has unravelled remarkably. But Sunderland were everything their rivals at the foot of the league have not been in the last few weeks – energetic, fiercely committed and clinical when opportunities presented themselves in front of goal.

Patrick van Aanholt opened the scoring with a fortuitous first-half free-kick, before Lamine Kone scored either side of the interval to release any lingering tension in the Stadium of Light. “Are you watching Newcastle,” bellowed the home faithful. By the end, they almost certainly were not.

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Lamine Kone scores his team's second goal and celebrates with team mates. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Sunderland’s latest act of escapology has been a supreme collective effort, but two people deserve special credit for ensuring the Black Cats will continue to play Premier League football next season while their greatest rivals languish in the league below them.

The first is Jermain Defoe, whose goals have done so much to fire his side to safety. Only five players have scored more than the 33-year-old’s 15 top-flight goals this season, and while he was unable to add to his tally in his final home appearance, his relentless running left John Stones a nervous wreck. If one of those players heads to the European Championships this summer, it shouldn’t be the Everton defender.

Above everyone else though, Sunderland’s survival has been a personal triumph for Allardyce, a manager who can continue to revel in his record of never having been relegated from the top-flight. Sunderland had picked up three points from their opening ten matches prior to Allardyce’s arrival, and the recently-deposed West Ham boss inherited a side that dropped to the foot of the table when they lost his first game in charge.

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Lamine Kone celebrates with team mates after scoring his second goal and Sunderland's third. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Since then, though, he has overseen a recovery process that might have started slowly, but which has picked up pace significantly in the last couple of months. Allardyce’s January transfer business was a major factor in the recent marked improvement – Kone, Jan Kirchhoff and Wahbi Khazri were all much-needed upgrades on the squad he inherited – and having assumed control of transfer business following the departures of Lee Congerton and Margaret Byrne, it is exciting to think of what further improvements might follow now Sunderland are guaranteed next season’s bumper television income.

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Sunderland players celebrate the final whistle. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Ellis Short has seen a succession of managers, head coaches and directors of football squander his millions, but in Allardyce, he finally has a hand on the tiller with an acute awareness of what is required to succeed in the Premier League. Unloved during his brief tenure with Newcastle, the 61-year-old has already achieved hero status on the banks of the Wear.

Allardyce’s chief task last night was to ensure his side did not rest on their laurels in the wake of Saturday’s scintillating win over Chelsea. With an Everton side imploding at a rate of knots under the seemingly hapless Martinez providing supine opposition, he need not have been too alarmed.

While Everton dominated the opening quarter-of-an-hour in terms of possession, knocking the ball around neatly without ever threatening to do anything with it, Sunderland were merely biding their time.

Matthew Pennington flashed an early header wide of the target, but with Yann M’Vila gradually gaining control of the central area and both Fabio Borini and Khazri cutting inside effectively to provide support to Defoe, the hosts gradually slipped back into the rhythm that had proved so potent last weekend.

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Black Cats fans celebrate staying up. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Younes Kaboul directed a 19th-minute header straight at Joel Robles before charging on an inspired run down the left-hand side that ended with a driven effort that whistled past the right-hand upright.

Suddenly, the noise levels inside the Stadium of Light intensified. Everton’s collective motivation levels wavered, Sunderland’s players sensed an opportunity to make a decisive intervention, and within the space of four minutes, the season was effectively put to bed.

There was an element of fortune to the Black Cats’ opener, but with Defoe’s tireless work earning a free-kick in a dangerous position, it was hardly undeserved. Van Aanholt, whose scoring spree in the first half of the season means he remains his club’s second leading goalscorer, drilled a tame shot straight down the middle of the goal, and Robles inexplicably darted to his left to allow the ball to pass by him.

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News of Sunderland's goal-fest reaches dejected Norwich City fans at Carrow Road. Picture: Nick Potts/PA Wire.  

It was a desperate piece of goalkeeping, but the Spaniard threatened to make amends when he tipped Defoe’s goalbound header over the crossbar moments later. From an Everton point of view, however, it was merely a temporary reprieve.

Leighton Baines headed the resultant corner out of the area, M’Vila nodded the ball back in, and with a lingering Baines playing him onside, Kone swivelled to lash home a sensational first-time volley. Joy, both on and off the pitch, was unrestrained.

Defoe almost claimed a third goal within ten minutes of the restart, but while he lobbed Robles after galloping on to DeAndre Yedlin’s through ball, Pennington did superbly to hack the ball off the goalline. Again though, Sunderland were not to be denied for long.

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Jermain Defoe thanks the fans. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Khazri’s corner caught a shambolic Robles napping, and while the Everton goalkeeper scrambled the ball off his line, Kone gleefully smashed home from a couple of yards.

Defoe came close to adding to Sunderland’s tally, and while Romelu Lukaku hit the crossbar in stoppage time, the party had started long before that. Safety, once again, has been secured.