Sunderland vs Everton match report: Lamine Kone at the double to relegate Newcastle and Norwich

Sunderland 3 Everton 0

Lamine Kone rifles in his first of the game with an acrobatic volley (Getty)

In the end it was easy. There were no nerves or fears, no drama. By the time the third goal had come for Sam Allardyce’s Sunderland - before the hour mark had even be reached - Wearside reached for their cigars.

From then it was a party.

In case anyone 13 miles away was unaware of what was happening at the Stadium of Light, the full repertoire of songs against Newcastle United came out.

It is Newcastle who will fret about a manager, about their precious balance sheets and the lack of credibility that goes with relegation.

This was Sunderland’s fourth great escape in the past four seasons, but undoubtedly the sweetest. Victory guaranteed their safety and their rival’s demotion.

It will be Allardyce - sacked by the Newcastle owner Mike Ashley of course - and Sunderland who take the biggest pot of television money in the history of the game to build a football club and the delirium inside the stadium told you that.

Allardyce waved happily when the supporters sang his name. Each tackle was cheered, each header met with approval. At the death, when it mattered, Sunderland found the answer.

Three goals in a 17-minute burst either side of half-time blew Everton and their under pressure manager away.

It is Roberto Martinez who will now fear for his future. He was given no help by Joel Robles, who was culpable for the first goal, direct from a free-kick from Patrick Van Aanholt and the third, scored by Lamine Kone, his second of the night, when the goalkeeper parried the ball into his path.

The charge to stay in the Premier League had come at the end of the first half. Then, for a four minute burst the power of Sunderland’s style and desire simply brushed Everton aside.

For 20 minutes Martinez’s side had typically dominated possession of the ball. During that period Allardyce sat in his seat in the home dugout and chewed chumming gum. He looked a man in a pub waiting for his mates.

In Younes Kabul and Lamine Kone he had the muscle to fight Romelu Lukaku and in front Jan Kirchhoff hurried Ross Barkley and dispirited him. That was important. Much rests on the England midfielder’s creativity. It was stifled and once Allardyce’s Sunderland make their platform they start looking to find holes.

Everton’s over elaboration at the back gave the crowd hope and similarly, as in the victory against Manchester United in February, Sunderland targeted the young full back, who on this occasion was Matthew Pennington.

It was just past the halfway point in the first half when Kabul, confident enough that the threat the visitors posed was being neutralised went on a marauding run down Pennington’s side of the pitch.

The former Tottenham central defender could not be stopped and he curled a vicious right footed shot narrowly wide of Joel Robles’ near post. It stirred the crowd, a reminder of just how much rested on victory. The same player had tested Robles with a header from a Wahbi Khazri corner.

Fabio Borini battles with Ross Barkely for the ball (Getty)

It was a sign, however, that Everton were running out of ideas and the home side were territorially advancing. In the 38th minute the lead they so cherished would come after a foul on Jermain Defoe in a dangerous.

The free-kick from Patrick Van Aanholt would still need an element of the calamitous defending that looks likely to cost Martinez his job. Van Aanholt shot down the middle of the goal, Ramiro Funes Mori jumped out of the way and Robles for some reason went left. The ball went straight into the Everton goal.

The keeper went some redeeming himself, however, soon after, when he finger tipped a fine Defoe header over the Everton crossbar.

Within four minutes of the first, however, the crucial second goal had arrived. This time there was nothing Robles could have done after Yann M’Vila headed an attempted Everton clearance back into the heart of the Everton penalty area and form eight yards Kone, played onside by James McCarthy, smashed in his side’s second.

A third was absolutely inevitable. In the 49th minute a Khazri corner should have been headed in by Kone but the ball bounced off his shoulder. Then in the 55th minute came a Defoe lob that Pennington had to scramble back onto his goalie to scramble clear.

Patrick van Aanholt scores direct from a free kick (Getty)

It did not matter, from the following corner, Robles needlessly parried the ball into his six yard area. There were six Everton players there but not had marked and Kone looked around him in disbelief as he crashed in the third.

Sunderland’s safety was assured.

There would be chances for a fourth. The hapless Robles did well to parry a Defoe shot in the 66th minute and Van Aanholt missed his kick with the goal at his mercy from a Khazri cross.

Nobody worried. The celebrations had already begun.