On This Day (20th March 2010): Early Bent double ensures Sunderland beat Birmingham!
03/20/2025 02:00 AM
Darren Bent's brace and Henderson's late heroics secure a 3-1 win over Birmingham, lifting Sunderland after a rough start under Steve Bruce.
After a fairly rough and insipid beginning to 2010, shoots of positivity were starting to emanate from the Stadium of Light. A 4-0 win against Bolton ten days previous was our first of 2010, and a decent draw with Manchester City followed soon after.
Alex McLeish's Birmingham were at the Stadium of Light on this day and were just on the back of a very impressive League Cup final win against Arsenal.
After a raft of injuries that sought to derail Steve Bruce's positive start as Sunderland manager, players were beginning to return from the treatment table to bolster the side, whilst the likes of youngsters David Meyler and Jordan Henderson were getting valuable game time and showing their worth to the team at the same time.
The story of this season thus far was the unerring prolificacy of our star striker Darren Bent, who scored his 20th and 21st goals of the campaign in this game. Bent's influence on Sunderland was undoubted, yet it seemed the fact he was still an outside bet for making the 2010 England World Cup squad was quite extraordinary.
After an injury to Kenwyne Jones, new loan signing Benjani started alongside Bent up top, and it was his deflected shot that landed at the feet of Bent for Sunderland to go one up in this game.
Benjani found space in the box to receive the ball and, just as he was about to pull the trigger, Stephen Carr's tackle diverted the ball to Bent, who fired in from six yards. Bent and Sunderland shot out of the blocks, and we had a second on the ten-minute mark from that man again. Steed Malbranque carried the ball into the Birmingham half before feeding Bent on the edge of the area, and the England man turned inside the covering Birmingham defender and fired past Joe Hart.
The Stadium of Light was bouncing, and in truth, the game could have been out of sight soon after had it not been for Joe Hart's save from Fraizer Campbell and a curling Kieran Richardson shot. Despite Sunderland's early dominance, Birmingham were getting back into the game, and with strikers Cameron Jerome and Chucho Benítez up front, they were bound to create opportunities.
In many ways, this game was the tale of two goalkeepers, and now it was the turn of our goalkeeper Craig Gordon — who was in inspired form — to make some outstanding saves.
On the half hour, Carr ran to the byline on the right and crossed for Christian Benítez, whose header would have found the net but for a diving save from the Scotland international, palming it onto his own crossbar and over. Not long after, Benítez engineered space in the box for a shot from 12 yards, but it was saved by the arm of Gordon, who also picked himself up in time to palm away Carr's follow-up effort.
Benítez and Cameron Jerome were both in menacing form for Birmingham, and it was no surprise that they got a goal back on the hour mark after the pressure was continuously building from the away side.
Jerome was set free down the Sunderland right and carried the ball into the box before unleashing a curling effort into the corner away from Gordon.
This set the scene for an anxious final half hour for the home fans, who were desperate for their side to build up some momentum after a wretched January and February. Bruce made some changes and brought on Phil Bardsley and Jordan Henderson in an attempt to steady the ship.
The introduction of Henderson was inspired, as he was the chief creator for our third goal just minutes before full time. Henderson ran clear down the right and crossed for Campbell to slide in and finish, allowing the home fans a huge collective sigh of relief.
The roar from the Stadium of Light crowd really summarised the anxiousness that was around the stadium, but in the end, it was a fine win for Steve Bruce and his team, who were beginning to build up a decent run of form at the right time of the season — at the expense of the ageing manager!
It was an unbelievable game of football. You know now why we age visibly in front of you with games like that. First half, we were in complete control, and then second half, for whatever reason, we let them back in. It seems to be ingrained here that we go from the sublime to the ridiculous. It's our day today, but we made it hairy for ourselves.
