A disastrous second half saw Town slump to their worst defeat since the 4-1 defeat in the QPR game in late 1999. The Blues had gone ahead in the fourth minute when Marcus Stewart ended a superb move and Town could have gone two-up when the ball ended up in the net from a corner. This was disallowed and Julio Arca scored an equaliser from a freekick. It was the second half however that was the real horror show for George Burley.

Town lined up 5-3-2 with Jamie Clapham returning on the left and Martijn Reuser very unlucky to drop to the bench. Elsewhere it was as the side which beat Spurs so convincingly.

The afternoon started excellently for the Blue Army when Marcus Stewart scored his thirteenth goal of the season. Titus Bramble ran the ball out of defence and gave the ball to Matt Holland who laid the ball back to Fabian Wilnis who hit the ball over the top for Alun Armstrong down the right flank. He crossed the ball in for Marcus Stewart who flicked the ball over Sorensen and into the net.

From here Town should have taken the game to Sunderland. The home side were clearly rattled with passes going astray and the crowd getting frustrated. Mark Venus went down injured after receiving a kick to the head from Richard Wright and shortly afterwards Fabian Wilnis went down after a kick from Kevin Phillips as the striker sent a shot wayward. Both were booed by the home fans as they received treatment and Wilnis continued to get this treatment fro the rest of the half.

Town could have gone two-up when a corner appeared to slip through keeper Sorensen’s hands and into the net. Referee Neale Barry blew his whistle and gave Sunderland a freekick and then proceeded to lecture Titus Bramble. He may have booked the young defender, but it was difficult to tell. Radio commentaries were also as baffled by the decision not to allow the goal as fans. The only opinion they could offer was that Bramble might have handled the ball.

Mark Venus and Danielle Dichio spent the game in constant physical battle. Indeed Dichio was proving an equal to Niall Quinn who he was replacing. Like Quinn he kept and almost constant hold on Venus’s shirt something the Town defender pointed out to referee Barry on several occasions.

It was from an incident of this type that Sunderland drew level. Venus went up with Dichio with the striker clearly hanging on to his shirt. However, referee Barry gave the home side a freekick which Arca sent into the top left corner of Richard Wright’s net.

At half-time the game was there for either side to take a grip of, but Town had played little like the side which won so well just two days ago. Jamie Clapham had been ineffective as left wing-back and Hermann Hreidarsson was have a lean time on the left side of defence. The midfield wasn’t zipping the ball about as well as on Saturday, Town needed to look more positive against opposition who the Blues were certainly capable of beating.

Initially the second half went well for Town in the first ten minutes Town were on top, but then on the hour it went horribly, horribly wrong. A ball over the top was flicked on by Dichio and Phillips ran on and finished well. It was clear that Titus Bramble was blamed by his team-mates for not his first defensive error in recent games. Immediately Town looked to a more positive strategy with Martijn Reuser replacing Jamie Clapham.

Three minutes later Kevin Phillips spun, turning Mark Venus inside out on the left edge of the penalty area. Phillips continued towards the byline and slipped the ball back to Dichio who hit the ball home. It was a devastating blow which knocked the stuffing out of Town with some of the Town players looking well-beaten by this stage.

Town had a couple of efforts late on as Reuser sought to create a bit more for the Blues. Sorensen saved a well-struck effort from the Dutchman just a few minutes after Alun Armstrong had hit a shot wide.

As Town continued to push forward, largely without conviction, Sunderland added a fourth through Stefan Schwartz. A cross flashed across the Town area and the former Arsenal player hit the ball into the net.

Many Town fans trooped out after this and not long after the final whistle went. Had things gone much better on the afternoon Town could have been up to second, but we got it very, very wrong on the afternoon. A number of refereeing decisions didn’t help, but the second half performance was not up to scratch. On top of this we picked up a number of bookings: Wilnis (dissent towards linesman after a failure to flag), Stewart (typical striker’s challenge on McCann), Venus (foul on Phillips, although Phillips had just shoved him to the ground), Hreidarsson (late foul on Phillips) and possibly Bramble (disallowed goal incident).

At one-up Town ought really to have taken the game to the home side. Instead we sat back too much and allowed the opposition to get back into, and then control the game and in the second half the defending w woeful. George Burley has had some excellent tactical afternoons recently, but today was not one of them.

Photo: Action Images

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