Jermain Defoe sinks Crystal Palace as Sunderland punish Scott Dann error to end wait for an away win
Result: Crystal Palace 0, Sunderland 1
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew refused to blame Scott Dann after the defender’s late blunder allowed Jermain Defoe to snatch Sunderland’s first away win of the season at Selhurst Park on Monday night.
Dann, the hero last time out as Palace won at Liverpool, hesitated as he attempted to shepherd a long ball to on-rushing goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy and Defoe nipped in to tap into the empty net.
It handed Sunderland only their second Premier League win of the season and lifted them to 18th, while Pardew’s men stayed 10th after missing the chance to climb to sixth.
“Scott Dann has been fantastic for us, but he’s tried to read that situation, Jermain checked his run then he’s in trouble. He was put under pressure by Yala [Yannick Bolasie] losing the ball with a trick,” said Pardew. “You need to make the right decisions, and we got too many wrong tonight. We should have been cleaner and more incisive, especially in the final third.”
Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce was unapologetic for adopting safety-first tactics that gleaned only their second clean sheet this term. He said: “We’ve been conceding on average three goals a game and that just has to stop.”