Darren Bent converted a last-gasp penalty to claim Sunderland's first league win of the season.
City left to rue first-half howler by Tevez as Black Cats fight back
Darren Bent converted a last-gasp penalty to beat Manchester City 1-0 and claim Sunderland's first Premier League win of the season.
The Blacks Cats were thankful to a shocking first-half miss by City captain Carlos Tevez while the penalty came in the third minute of stoppage time.
Bent sidefooted the winner past Joe Hart with virtually the last kick of the game but it was no less than Steve Bruce's side deserved after a spirited second-half performance.
City were buoyant after beating Liverpool 3-0 last Monday before booking their place in the Europa League group stage and they dominated a first half which saw Tevez sidefoot over an empty net from 12 yards.
Sunderland lost Michael Turner and Fraizer Campbell to injury at half-time but pegged City back for long periods during the second half.
And although the best chance fell to City substitute Emmanuel Adebayor, who was denied by a superb point-blank save by Simon Mignolet, Sunderland kept pouring forward and claimed victory after Micah Richards bundled over Bent in the box.
City had controlled the opening 45 minutes with their pace and movement repeatedly stretching the Wearsiders, with Yaya Toure hugely impressive behind Tevez.
Poor finishing
However, a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping meant the Black Cats went in at the break with their clean sheet intact.
The visitors looked certain to score in the 16th minute when City broke following a Sunderland corner.
Yaya Toure charged down Kieran Richardson's shot before nicking the ball past Lee Cattermole on halfway to leave City with a three-on-one.
The summer signing advanced towards the edge of the box and drew Mignolet before squaring for Tevez, but the new City captain contrived to scoop his shot high over the bar.
Tevez might have made amends 13 minutes later after latching on to Richardson's misplaced pass, but Turner did just enough to deflect the ball wide.
Mignolet heroics
Mignolet then denied Yaya Toure after James Milner's free-kick was allowed to reach him unmarked at the far post.
The closest Sunderland went was when Bent glanced an early header wide and Jordan Henderson fired wide from distance.
Bruce was forced into a reshuffle at the break with Danny Welbeck and Phil Bardsley coming on for Campbell and Turner, and the pace and trickery of midfielder pair Ahmed Elmohamady and Steed Malbranque began to peg City back.
Hart had to punch clear as Bent tried to get onto Vincent Kompany's mistimed defensive header before the new England keeper palmed Elmohamady's wind-assisted cross round his near post.
Welbeck fired over with 68 minutes gone although Mignolet had to be at his best to deny City a 79th-minute opener, pulling off a superb reaction save to deny Adebayor after Richards had headed Milner's corner back across goal.
But the drama came right at the death following another teasing cross by Elmohamady. Hart dived to his left and Bent's spot-kick went under the visiting keeper as City conceded their first goal of the season - and Bent registered his fourth so far.
| Sunderland |
Team Statistics |
Manchester City |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 3 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 8 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 6 |
Blocked Shots |
6 |
| 3 |
Corners |
8 |
| 5 |
Fouls |
10 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 73.4 |
Passing Success |
81.3 |
| 31 |
Tackles |
24 |
| 74.2 |
Tackles Success |
70.8 |
| 42.6 |
Possession |
57.4 |
| 57.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
42.9 |
|
