Poom's defiance speaks volumes for Sunderland

Sheffield United 0 Sunderland 1

Mick McCarthy's influence at Sunderland is beginning to show through, even to the extent of their Estonian goalkeeper, Mart Poom, starting to mimic his straight-talking manager.

Poom had kept the visitors in the game during a trying first-half, the former Derby County keeper making two crucial saves in the opening 90 seconds. Sunderland were eventually rewarded with a second-half goal from Kevin Kyle, but the match-winning honours remained with Poom, who later exhibited an uncanny command of the McCarthy vernacular.

His team had managed to "nick a goal", the game itself was "a bit of a battle'' and the fight at the top of the First Division was "quite a big scrap''. Even Poom's verbal delivery was as deadpan and flat as a badly made Yorkshire pudding.

However, on the pitch the spirit of the Sunderland side matched that of Sheffield United, who have built a reputation for their tenacity and never-say-die attitude.

In the end, Sunderland deserved their victory, which gives them seven wins from their last nine league games, a run which is suggesting a rapid return to the Premiership.

It may be stating the obvious, as McCarthy is wont to do, but he pointed out: "Its about collecting points and we're picking them up at the moment.'' Which is more than they did in the top flight last season, when they finished bottom of the Premiership, a full 25 points below the team in 17th.

On Saturday at Bramall Lane the referee, Paul Danson, did his level best to take the shine off a full-blooded but free-flowing encounter by showing no less than seven yellow cards, Julio Arca's second one earning him an unwarranted dismissal with just six minutes to go.

McCarthy was animated on the bench and clapped his hand on Arca's back at the final whistle but drew back from major criticism, simply saying that "One or two bookings were iffy,'' but adding, "There was not a really nasty or bad challenge in the game".

Even Neil Warnock for once tried to take the higher ground when the Sheffield United manager admitted: "It was a cracking game. That's how football should be played. Two good teams having a go at each other.''

But Warnock would not be Warnock without a dig at the referee."I've told him that in the olden days it would have been a fantastic game without any bookings," he said, "but common sense has gone out of the window.''

Sunderland's 68th-minute goal proved to be the clincher. It was simplicity itself as Marcus Stewart sent over a perfect cross which eluded United's defence and allowed Kyle to beat off his marker Mike Whitlow and put in a close-range header at the near post for his seventh strike of the season. It was tough on Whitlow, who previous to then had rarely let Kyle out of his sight.

By then, but for Poom, Sunderland might well have been a couple of goals behind and on the back foot. The keeper started with a point-blank save from Peter Ndlovu, and for an encore put round an Ashley Ward effort. He dealt with a couple of troublesome attempts by Michael Tonge, and at the second attempt Poom managed to hold on to a tricky overhead kick from Paul Peschisolido.

Admittedly, Arca was unlucky for Sunderland when a low drive went just the wrong side of the far post, and a George McCartney shot was cleared off the line by Phil Jagielka.

Yet the visitors showed great resilience in taking the game to Warnock's in-form team at a noisy Bramall Lane. "To come here at any time and win is a good win," McCarthy acknowledged. "They work hard and you know they're going to keep going right to the end."

A highly vocal 27,000-strong crowd, with 5,000 of them from the north-east, was richly entertained, and in the end Sunderland, like their manager, stood firm.

Goal: Kyle (68) 0-1.

Sheffield United (4-4-2): Gerrard; Kozluk, Jagielka, Whitlow, Harley (Armstrong, 39); Tonge, Montgomery (Lester, 73), McCall, Ndlovu; Ward (Allison, 79), Peschisolido. Substitutes not used: Rankine, Cryan.

Sunderland (4-4-2) : Poom; Williams, Breen, McCartney, Arca; Oster, Healy, Whitley, Butler (Thornton, 76); Kyle, Stewart (Bjorklund, 86).

Substitutes not used: Ingham (gk), Smith, Proctor.

Referee: P Danson (Leicester).

Bookings: Sheffield United: Kozluk, Ward, Tonge. Sunderland: Williams, Arca, Thornton.

Sending-off: Sunderland: Arca.

Man of the match: Poom.

Attendance: 27,008.