| Goals | Goals |
|---|---|
| 26. Steven Fletcher (29’) | 7. Luis Suarez (70’) |
Liverpool still winless
Raheem Sterling battles Danny Rose
Adam Johnson failed to shrug off a thigh injury to make his home debut for Sunderland against Liverpool, while Brendan Rogers made two changes to the side which lost 2-0 to Arsenal with Martin Kelly and Jonjo Shelvey having come in for Jose Enrique and Nuri Sahin.
The opening quarter of the game saw some great passing by the visitors, but the final cutting edge was lacking.
Jack Colback’s blushes were saved when his poor attempt at a headed pass back met Fabio Borini but luckily for him his keeper managed to block the Italian’s shot.
Borini had another chance to break the deadlock when he volleyed the ball, with his side foot, just inside the box but Mignolet pulled off the save in the 25th minute.
On the stroke of the half hour mark the hosts grabbed the lead through Steven Fletcher who put in the ball from close range after Craig Gardner beat two men.
Eight minutes from the break, Luis Suarez became the first player to be shown yellow when he went down all too easily in the penalty area.
Martin O’Neil wasted no time in making a change, when he brought on Titus Bramble in place of Carlos Cuellar at the start of the second period.
Liverpool thought they had found the equalizer through Glen Johnson, but his firing shot unlikely hit the cross bar on the 50.
Just after the hour mark Martin Skrtel was shown yellow, while Borini was taken off in place of Stuart Downing up front.
Liverpool continued to poke in around the box but they were struggling to find the back of the net up until the 70th minute, when Suarez scored off his second attempt after seeing his initial shot blocked by Bramble.
Shelvy came close to making it 2-1 for the Reds, before Sebastian Larsson was shown yellow for a late challenge in the 80thminute.
Luis Saha was given a late run out, with five minutes to go, as he replaced the goal scorer Fletcher for Sunderland, while Steven Gerrard’s free-kick in the dying minutes was kicked away by the wall- summing up Liverpool’s night of missed chances.
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