Morrison pops up to force Sunderland bandwagon off high road

Sunderland 0 Birmingham City 1

Sunderland's recovery came to a juddering halt as Clinton Morrison snatched three points for Birmingham at the Stadium of Light yesterday.

Howard Wilkinson's side had gone five games without defeat, but they were undone a minute before the end of normal time by the Republic of Ireland striker just when it looked as though they might force their way in front.

"We didn't allow ourselves to overestimate our progress so far and, by the same token, we can't allow today to wash all the positives that we've accumulated so far down the pan," Wilkinson said.

Yet the visitors were the better side for much of the contest, with Sunderland simply taking too long to put Steve Bruce's defence under any real threat until it was too late. Kevin Phillips went close with his only shot of the game 10 minutes from time and the Birmingham substitute Damien Johnson saw an Olivier Tébily clearance cannon off him and on to the bar just before the whistle.

With the irrepressible Robbie Savage – aided and abetted in midfield by Aliou Cissé, Paul Devlin and the excellent Stan Lazaridis down the left – running the show, Sunderland found themselves chasing shadows for long periods and in constant peril from the livewire striking partnership of Morrison and Stern John. Indeed, had it not been for the positional sense of their goalkeeper, Jürgen Macho, Sunderland could have gone in at the break in deep trouble.

Devlin twice tested the Austrian from distance, first after being set up by Savage and John with 12 minutes gone and then again six minutes later after he and Savage had robbed Michael Gray. Then Stephen Wright almost gifted Lazaridis the opening goal when he drove his attempted clearance into the Australian and allowed him a clear run on goal. But to the former Liverpool full-back's credit, he got back to redeem himself with a fine block.

Savage's afternoon came to a premature end on the hour when, just after being booked for a foul on Gavin McCann, he was replaced by Darryl Powell. Not surprisingly the Welshman did not look at one with the decision. "He behaved like my 15-year-old daughter," Bruce said. "At the time he didn't think I was right, but I'm the one who makes the decisions."

Macho came for and missed a 65th-minute Lazaridis free-kick and was relieved to see the ball drop wide, but after the Australian had seen two shots in quick succession deflected clear, it was the home side who finally started to function as an attacking force. They forced a series of corners which City struggled to clear, but got their chance when Powell was penalised for a foul on McCann 20 yards out.

Phillips took aim from the free-kick but fired it wide of Nico Vaesen's post, and then came the deflection on to the bar by Johnson. Then Morrison snatched victory at the death when he charged down Jody Craddock's clearance before slotting past Macho to earn three crucial points.

Sunderland 0 Birmingham City 1
Morrison 89

Half-time 0-0 Attendance: 38,803