Sunderland vs. Newcastle 2015 results: Black Cats sneak Tyne-Wear derby win

Sunderland slid down to 17th in the Premier League table while going seven games without a win, but they’ve put some space between themselves and the bottom three while getting the better of their rivals again. The Black Cats have moved up a couple of places thanks to Jermain Defoe, who fired his club to a 1-0 win over Newcastle with one of the best goals of the season.

The first half was almost offensively boring until stoppage time, when Defoe made up for 45 minutes of turgid play with one brilliant strike. From just over 20 yards out, he struck a volley first time that popped way up in the air, looping well out of the reach of Tim Krul, then dropping down perfectly into the top corner. It was one of the best goals of Defoe’s career, and his eyes were visibly full of tears as he walked down the tunnel at halftime.

There would be no more goals, but Sunderland never looked under a ton of threat, and were always the much more likely to score in the second half. Steven Fletcher had an excellent chance in the opening minutes of the period, but tried to get fancy with a scissor volley and mishit his shot. Newcastle’s best chance came in the 88th minute, when Ayoze Perez missed a tricky shot from the edge of the six-yard box off a Ryan Taylor corner, shooting just wide. The Magpies won a corner in the sixth minute of stoppage time and sent Krul forward, but Taylor’s ball was claimed easily and the final whistle blew.

Goals: Defoe (45’)

Goals: None