Stewart puts Sunderland in sight of Premiership

Wigan Athletic 0 - Sunderland 1

It will take their current form to desert them completely for Sunderland to fail to return to the Premiership, probably as champions, after this narrow but nevertheless convincing win over one of their main rivals.

It will take their current form to desert them completely for Sunderland to fail to return to the Premiership, probably as champions, after this narrow but nevertheless convincing win over one of their main rivals.

It might have been a hotly-disputed early goal from Marcus Stewart that decided the game in front of a record football crowd for the stadium but Sunderland looked the more confident and capable side throughout.

There was massive travelling support from the north-east packing one side of the JJB Stadium to see them try to extend their lead over Wigan at the top of the Championship.

The Latics, the leaders for so long this season, were likely to get spooked by the presence on the visitors' bench of Brian Deane, whose goal for West Ham kept them out of the play-offs last year.

Wigan had already had one wonderful opportunity before Sunderland took a controversial third-minute lead. Jason Roberts had been through on goal, only to be thwarted by George McCartney's lunging tackle and Thomas Myhre saved Gary Teale's follow up.

That escape looked all the more valuable to Sunderland when Liam Lawrence got the ball on the right touchline and carried on playing despite Wigan's protests that it had run out of play. The officials agreed with Lawrence, allowing him to whip the ball in to the far post for Stewart to take advantage of a hesitant defence for one of his most important goals of the season.

Wigan were understandably nervous after that disastrous opening, Ian Breckin giving the ball away to Lawrence, whose cross was this time a little too high for Chris Brown.

The pressure was telling as well on the Wigan manager, Paul Jewell, as he remonstrated furiously with his players during stoppages in play. Nothing he could say to them had any effect on the pattern into which Wigan were falling with any decent approach work ruined by a string of sub-standard balls in the general direction of the danger area.

Sunderland were that bit calmer on the ball and created another reasonable chance when Carl Robinson found the lively Lawrence, whose dipping shot was not far over the top.

Jewell tried something different by bringing on Brett Ormerod as an extra striker at half-time. That released Nathan Ellington to play down the left where his pace caused some early consternation.

The touches of class, however, continued to come from Sunderland, as with Julio Arca's angled ball into the box to give Stewart another glimpse of goal.

They should have been two up just before the hour when Dean Whitehead robbed Graham Kavanagh, but put his low shot just beyond the far post.

A Breckin header was Wigan's first real attempt on goal for far too long, one which was easily saved by Myhre. That was a moment of concern for a Sunderland team which was looking more and more assured.

Wigan Athletic (4-4-2): Filan; Eaden, Breckin, Jackson, Baines; Teale (Jarrett, 64), Bullard, Kavanagh, Mahon (Ormerod, h-t); Roberts, Ellington. Substitutes not used: Walsh (gk), McMillan, D Wright.

Sunderland (4-4-2): Myhre; S Wright, Breen, Caldwell, McCartney (D Collins, 73); Lawrence, Whitehead, Robinson, Arca; Brown, Stewart (Elliott, 81). Substitutes not used: Alnwick (gk), Deane, Thornton.

Referee: A Malliner (West Midlands).