A "mystery" Premiership club has tested Cardiff chairman Peter Ridsdale's resolve to hang onto ex-Newcastle striker Michael Chopra by slapping in a bid of £3m.

Monday April 17th 2006
SUNDERLAND 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 4

SUNDERLAND: Davis, Hoyte, Caldwell, Danny Collins, McCartney, Lawrence, Whitehead, Miller, Daryl Murphy (Arca 64), Stead (Kyle 68), Brown.
Subs Not Used: Joe Murphy, Breen, Leadbitter.

NEWCASTLE UTD: Given, Carr, Bramble, Moore, Babayaro, Solano, Faye, Clark (Chopra 59), N'Zogbia (Boumsong 88), Dyer, Shearer (Luque 71).
Subs Not Used: Harper, Ramage.

Att: 40,032

It was an outcome which looked unlikely at half-time as the Toon players trudged off the pitch trailing to Justin Hoyte's 32nd-minute strike having been completely out-played and out-fought by Kevin Ball's men. The battle of the caretaker managers, and Roeder had some work to do to put some fighting spirit in his team, because that first half was a joke. Players without the bottle to put a foot in ... adding an extra step in the challenge for 50/50 balls ... nobody wanting the ball.

The game represented Sunderland's last chance to salvage any pride from a disastrous season, and their task could not be under-estimated: they had not won a home derby in 10 attempts stretching back 26 years, and with the Magpies having won their last three league games on the trot to rekindle hopes of European qualification, they knew a first league win on their own ground would take a major performance.

The game turned on its head within seven incident-packed minutes when Chopra equalised from close range after the home defence made a mess of clearing Bramble's long ball. The goalkeeper was fooled by the kid's refusal to give up a lost cause and United were level.

Two minutes later, the Sunderland defence still rattled, Charles N'Zogbia was hauled back by Hoyte inside the box and referee Chris Foy pointed to the spot. Shearer, having converted penalties against both Tottenham and Wigan in the last fortnight, blasted his effort beyond Davis' dive to claim his first (and last) ever goal for the club at the Stadium of Light.

The Mackems were stunned into silenced, and their players fell to the floor in disbelief at the turnaround. But their misery increased with 66 minutes gone when N'Zogbia worked his way into the box and slid a left-foot shot past Davis and inside the far post. A marvelous goal made out of nothing, easily the pick of the bunch.

Shearer's afternoon ended prematurely with 19 minutes remaining when he was heavily tackled and fell to the ground in a heep. The GOALden Boy limped off to be replaced by Albert Luque, and the Spaniard scored number four as he broke through to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper.