Birmingham 2 Sunderland 2
Former Blues favourite Stern John denied his old faithful the chance to celebrate a winning start to their home Premier League campaign after his controversial injury time goal saw Sunderland snatch a 2-2 draw at St Andrew's. Former Blues favourite Stern John denied his old faithful the chance to celebrate a winning start to their home Premier League campaign after his controversial injury time goal saw Sunderland snatch a 2-2 draw at St Andrew's. Impressive Blues new-boy Garry O'Connor looked to have made the game safe after his sweet left-foot strike on 82 minutes - but John equalised after pouncing on a superb stop from keeper Colin Doyle, writes James Peacock. The Irishman will be rueing his luck and is surely due a change of fortune in the Premier League following his unconvincing season opener at Chelsea. The 22-year-old bounced back well last night and his one-handed injury time save, which kept out a deflected Michael Chopra free-kick, was cruelly rendered futile as the 6ft 5in stopper was prevented from getting back to his feet by Black Cats' sub Roy O'Donovan. Read the full report in the Express & Star.
Impressive Blues new-boy Garry O'Connor had looked to have made the game safe after his sweet left-foot strike on 82 minutes - but John equalised after pouncing on a superb stop from keeper Colin Doyle.
The Irishman will be rueing his luck and is surely due a change of fortune in the Premier League following his unconvincing season opener at Chelsea.
The 22-year-old bounced back well last night and his one-handed injury time save, which kept out a deflected Michael Chopra free-kick, was cruelly rendered futile as the 6ft 5in stopper was prevented from getting back to his feet by Black Cats' sub Roy O'Donovan.
Referee Keith Stroud, a late replacement for Phil Dowd, missed the offence - unlike the the vast majority of the 24,898 crowd, and John was left only to nod the ball into an unguarded net.
How often fate dictates that old players come back to haunt their former clubs and, in the case of John, both managers had a feeling that his introduction would have an effect.
In truth, the Caribbean striker should have levelled the score a few minutes earlier after another piercing run from the outstanding Carlos Edwards had ripped into the heart of the Blues defence.
He breezed past Stephen Kelly - not for the first time - and then Liam Ridgewell before his cross was met by John who crashed his header against the crossbar.
But the hallmark of this Sunderland side, unbeaten since April, is their willingness never to give up.
Edwards, with his gracefully languid running style, and for Blues Olivier Kapo, provided an antidote to the frenetic pace that dominated much of the game.
Fabrice Muamba was snapping into tackles for the home side with regularity and that was what the game's frenetic pace demanded.
Much of the time, this only served in cancelling out the attacking endeavours of both sides.
Blues breakthrough came through an own goal on 28 minutes after a Sebastien Larsson free kick was headed goalwards by Kelly, who rose well, only for the former Baggies man Paul McShane to divert it into his own net.
Kelly was then lucky at the other end not to give away a penalty after he barged into the back of David Connolly, which was another decision the Hampshire referee got wrong.
Chopra levelled the scores after the break with his second goal of the season.
His volley finish was excellent, leaving Doyle no chance, and came about as a result of Bluies skipper Ridgewell mis-judging the flight of the ball.
Scot O'Connor, who made his Premier League debut coming on as a sub for Gary McSheffrey, crowned the day with a neat finish after good work from the influential Kapo and Mikael Forssel had forced an opening through a dense Sunderland defence.
