Sunderland grabbed their first win of the season in dramatic fashion as Fabio Borini left his mark on the Tyne-Wear derby. The Italian centre forward broke a 1-1 tie in the 85th minute with a remarkable goal, lifting the hosts off the bottom of the table and giving the club the boost it's needed after an awful start to the season.
Sunderland vs. Newcastle United: Final score 2-1, Borini wondergoal wins Tyne-Wear derby
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The Black Cats got off to a flying start, thanks to Steven Fletcher. After the combination of Adam Johnson and Sebastian Larsson confused the visitors' defence with a short corner, Fletcher took advantage of youngster Paul Dummett's inexperience to get clear and power in a back-post header.
That was the ideal way to begin the match, and it nearly got better for Sunderland, who were using the combination of Fletcher and Jozy Altidore to great effect in the middle of the park. Their link-up came very close to providing another goal shortly after the opener when Fletcher got on the end of his strike partner's knockdown and forced Tim Krul into a sprawling save. With Dummett hesitating, Altidore reached the rebound first, but the big American was too wide to trouble Krul further.
Having survived that scare, Newcastle began to find their feet. They were probably the better side in the latter stages of the first half, and they struck back just before the hour mark when right back Mathieu Debuchy ran clear of the Sunderland defence to fire Hatem Ben Arfa's low cross in from point-blank range.
Giving up the equaliser could easily have led to the hosts letting their tails drop, but they redoubled their efforts and were rewarded five minutes from full time thanks to a quite brilliant strike from substitute Fabio Borini, who raced onto an Altidore layoff, charged his way up the pitch and blasted a 25-yard finish into the top corner. Krul got fingertips to it, but he couldn’t prevent the goal.
Sunderland had to survive some late Newcastle pressure, but four minutes of injury time later they had their first win of the season. Pride restored at the Stadium of Light?
Sunderland starting lineup (4-4-2): Kieran Westwood; Andrea Dossena, John O'Shea, Carlos Cuellar, Phil Bardsley (Ondrej Celustka 77'); Jack Colback, Lee Cattermole (Ki Sung-Yueng 70'), Jack Colback, Sebastian Larsson, Adam Johnson (Fabio Borini 69'); Jozy Altidore, Steven Fletcher.
Goals: Fletcher 5’, Borini 85’.
Newcastle starting lineup (4-3-3): Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Mike Williamson, Paul Dummett, Davide Santon; Moussa Sissoko (Papiss Cisse 45'), Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye; Yoan Gouffran, Hatem Ben Arfa, Loic Remy (Shola Ameobi 70').
Goals: Debuchy 57’.
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