Sunderland win dedicated to Porterfield
Roy Keane dedicated Sunderland’s Premier League victory over Reading to FA Cup hero Ian Porterfield as his side ended its four-game losing run.
Goals from home debutant Kenwyne Jones and Ross Wallace – who was booked for removing his shirt after scoring for the third time in his career on Wearside - fired the Black Cats into a 2-0 lead with 47 minutes gone, and the game should have been well beyond the visitors as chances went begging.
Dave Kitson’s 85th-minute header gave the Royals hope of an unlikely fightback, but Keane’s men managed to hang on to claim a deserved three points.
Ten of the 1973 FA Cup winning team joined the players of both teams on the pitch to pay tribute to Porterfield following his death on Tuesday night, and Keane viewed what followed as a fitting conclusion to the day.
He said: “It finished the day off nicely. It was a great tribute before the game and during the game.
“The players stayed focussed and it was a nice way to finish the day off, I have to say.
“We have all done it on different occasions, paid our respects to different people over the years, and I thought today was brilliant, even during the game, and the Reading fans were brilliant as well with that.
“That round of applause is very, very good, I have to say.
“But the best way of paying our respects was to put on a good performance and win the match, so hopefully he will be looking down and would have enjoyed it.
“It’s important to remember our history.”
Jones, a £6million signing from Southampton, tore Reading to shreds and might have completed a hat-trick to announce his arrival on Wearside in style, and his manager could hardly have been more delighted.
Keane said: “It wasn’t bad, was it? Very, very good. I thought he did quite well a few weeks ago.
“It’s tough for him being up front on his own, but he gives us something a little bit different to the other good strikers we have got at the club.
“He worked very well with Michael Chopra and it was a very good home debut.”
Coppell admitted his disappointment by a performance which did not give his side a chance of getting something from the game until the closing minutes.
He said: “The spell after half-time was critical for us, 1-0 down – and we were never bothered by being 1-0 down – but 2-0 makes all the difference.
“The second goal was another soft goal for us. So far this season, we have been a little bit deficient in all areas – we are not scoring enough and we are certainly not as rigid at the back as we were last year.
“There’s a lot to work on, for sure.”
However, Coppell insisted he had no regrets at not including Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle in the 16 after his exertions in the last week.
He said: “It was probably a residue of our previous experience when he played two games for Ireland and then we had a trip to Bolton and by his own admission, he just had nothing left in the tank.
“I watched the two Irish games on TV and he played practically every minute and he played his heart out for his country in both games, in the final 30 minutes of the second game down to 10 men and he was ploughing a lone furrow up front.
“He got back at 2.30am on Thursday and then we were travelling on Friday.
“I wouldn’t have changed that. That would be asking too much of him with the travelling involved.”
