Defoe Finds Scoring Touch As Sunderland Beat Villa

Jermain Defoe showed something like his old self when he helped Sunderland to a 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Saturday.

Defoe grabbed a brace of goals late on in a game that looked like it was destined to be a draw, but his efforts gave the Black Cats their first victory in six games and renewed hope that relegation could once again be held off.

Even so, the side are still in trouble in the relegation zone and Villa had their fair share of the play at the Stadium of Light. The visitors were just about looking the better of the two sides when Patrick van Aanholt saw his deflected effort hit the back of the net on the half hour mark.

Villa responded in the second half when they equalised through Carles Gil who fired home a great volley.

Before the scoring began both sides wasted chances to go in front the best falling to Sunderland’s Duncan Watmore and Villa’s Leandro Bacuna.

Vito Mannone had to pull off a smart save to prevent Villa from going in front with less than ten minutes gone, Jordan Veretout was the player left cursing his luck after such an acrobatic attempt to score.

The home fans were becoming frustrated until Big Sam’s side began to sort themselves out half an hour into the battle. van Aanholt fired a shot at goal with his left foot and although the Villa keeper Guzan looked like he had the effort covered, Richards lunged a leg at the ball and deflected the shot into the net.

Guzan pulled off a good save from Defoe just before the hour was up, but a few minutes later and it looked like Villa were heading home with a point after good work by Traore down the right saw him manage to get in a cross to the far post where Gil jumped and volleyed the ball home to make it 1-1.

Ten minutes later and Sunderland had the lead again through Defoe, who picked up a pass from Johnson and beat Guzan at the near post.

The game was two minutes into stoppage time before Sunderland made absolutely sure off the three point haul, this time Defoe had Toivonen to thank for finding him with a pass in front of goal and the former England man made no mistake.