14/10/2000  Sunderland 1 Chelsea 0
 
The England striker, who had earlier hinted that he may have to leave Wearside 
to fulfil his international dreams, concentrated on his bread and butter as he 
dispatched the 61st-minute penalty which clinched all three points in an often 
bad tempered affair which kicked off 45 minutes late because of an electrical 
fault.

Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf was stretchered off and Kevin Kilbane and 
Graeme Le Saux were sent off as a physical game became increasingly niggly, but 
Peter Reid's side deserved their victory after knocking the big-spending 
Londoners out of their stride.

The Wearsiders simply did not allow the visitors to play, and with Niall Quinn 
causing havoc up front, the points always looked destined to stay in the 
north-east.

Reid made just one change to the side which drew 0-0 with Leicester in their 
last outing with Alex Rae returning from injury to replace the suspended Don 
Hutchison in central midfield.

Opposite number Claudio Ranieri was afforded the luxury of being able to name 
an unchanged side following the 3-0 win over Liverpool a fortnight ago, and that 
meant places in the starting line-up for strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, 
Gianfranco Zola and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

At 3.45pm on December 4 last year, Sunderland left the pitch at half-time in 
the corresponding fixture 4-0 up after a devastating 45 minutes, and the memory 
was clearly fresh in their minds.

With Rae and Darren Williams creating havoc in central midfield and Quinn and 
Phillips making life intensely difficult for Marcel Desailly and Leboeuf at the 
back, hopes of a repeat performance were very much alive.

But the difference last season was that Quinn and Phillips managed to find two 
magical finishes each to cement their side's dominance, something they were 
unable to reproduce this time around.

Argentinian midfielder Julio Arca was unlucky not to put his side in front 
with just seven minutes gone when he collected Quinn's ball and cut inside 
Albert Ferrer.

His close-range shot beat keeper Ed de Goey but cannoned down off the bar on 
to the line to be hacked away by Leboeuf.

The Dutch keeper clawed a Kilbane cross away from Quinn and then kept out the 
Irishman's header seconds later as Sunderland turned the screw, and the 
impressive Desailly needed to be at his best as the Wearsiders attempted to 
capitalise on Quinn's aerial strength.

Desailly had the stuffing knocked out of him as he bravely blocked Quinn's 
21st-minute piledriver, and Leboeuf left the field on a stretcher shortly 
afterwards to be replaced by Winston Bogarde after coming off second best in a 
challenge with the towering striker.

But it was defender Jody Craddock who almost broke the deadlock with an 
injury-time header from Rae's corner which flew just over.

Tore Andre Flo replaced Hasselbaink at the break, but it was the home side who 
continued to threaten.

However, it took them until the 61st-minute until they got their reward when 
Mario Melchiot tugged Quinn's shirt as he jumped for Kilbane's cross and referee 
Jeff Winter pointed to the spot.

Phillips smashed penalty high to de Goey's right to give his side a deserved 
lead, but there was more drama to come.

Le Saux, who had earlier been booked for a poor challenge on Kilbane, barged 
into the Irishman once again on 65 minutes, and when the Sunderland man reacted, 
Mr Winter produced two red cards.

Flo could have squared it four minutes later after Zola brilliantly controlled 
Sam Dalla Bona's long ball and then produced a dangerous cross, but the 
Norwegian could just not climb high enough.

Quinn might have sealed the victory 13 minutes from time when he shot across 
the face of goal from an improbable angle, but Chelsea almost snatched a point 
with a late rally.

Ferrer saw a close-range volley inadvertently blocked by Michael Gray and a 
Melchiot cross somehow evaded all the blue shirts in the middle as Sunderland 
just managed to hang on to their lead.