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Newcastle 0-1 Sunderland: Reshuffled defence stand firm for visitors at St James' Park

Black Cats notch up another clean sheet

Sunderland manager Gus Poyet congratulates Wes Brown

Adam Johnson once again grabbed the headlines in the Tyne-Wear derby, finding the net at St James’ Park for the third season in a row to help Sunderland to a record fourth-straight victory over arch rivals Newcastle in the Premier League.

The Sunderland star smashed home the winner deep into injury time after driving the Black Cats’ counter-attack from the edge of his own box, and afterwards celebrated a vital three points which moves his side up to 14th.

“Three years in a row, they must hate me here! I should have scored earlier on so if I missed that one I’d have been gutted but I took my time, set myself and thankfully it went in,” said the England international after the game.

However, Sunderland’s victory owes as much to their defence as their tireless counter-attacking.

When they were drubbed 8-0 at Southampton, Black Cats boss Gus Poyet described his backline as "all over the place". Their response has been remarkable.

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Gus Poyet says Sunderland's last-minute winner against Newcastle is one of those perfect moments in football.

Sunderland have kept four clean sheets and conceded just nine times in the nine games they’ve played since that trip to St Mary’s. In fact, if Southampton’s eight strikes were to be scrubbed from Sunderland’s record they’d have the fourth-best defence in the Premier League.

They have shut out Chelsea and Liverpool in that nine-game spell but their defensive effort at Newcastle may just be the best of the lot, given the pre-game disruption they had to deal with.

When Anthony Reveillere limped off the field during the warm-up, Poyet was forced to turn to Sebastian Coates – who has made just one Premier League appearances this season – and shift John O’Shea to left-back.

However, despite Newcastle firing 15 shots at goal, including seven on target and having 29 touches in their opposition’s penalty area (10 more than Sunderland), the visitors stood firm.

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Adam Johnson says he couldn't ask for anything more after scoring a late winner for Sunderland against Newcastle.

Heroes

Newcastle’s ‘keeper crisis ahead of the derby meant there was plenty of focus on Jak Alnwick before kick-off, however it was his opposite number, Costel Pantilimon, who produced the save of the match.

The former Man City shot stopper was at full stretch to tip Moussa Sissoko’s powerful drive over the bar in the 89th minute and the Romanian’s intervention proved crucial, as moments later Johnson raced away down the field to silence the home crowd.

“Everybody is going to be talking about Adam Johnson but it was a difficult game for Coates to jump in and a difficult game for O’Shea to play left-back,” Poyet told Sky Sports. “There were plenty of heroes and it’s a great achievement to win four in a row against Newcastle.”

A Boxing Day contest with Hull at the Stadium of Light is next up for Sunderland, but don’t expect their defence to be giving out any gifts to Steve Bruce’s men.  

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