Sunderland 3 Middlesbrough 2
Scorers: Sunderland - Higginbotham (6m), Chopra (45m), Pogatetz (90m og); Middlesbrough - Tuncay (4m), Alves (73m)
Sunderland Stadium of Light
Attendance: 45,059
Barclays Premier League
Saturday April 26, 2008

Sunderland repaid us for last weekend's derby misery with a double header - beating our other "local" rivals, and securing top flight safety all in the same nail-biting game.

Roy Keane dropped Paul McShane and Daryl Murphy after their performances last week, bringing in Dean Whitehead at right back (with Kieran Richardson going into midfield) and Michael Chopra in their places.

Middlesbrough started the game well, and a lot of the 45,000-plus crowd would have been fearing a repeat of last weekend's debacle at St James' Park when Tuncay Sanli raced onto Afonso Alves' through ball in the fourth minute, before firing the ball low past Craig Gordon into the corner of the net.

Unlike last weekend though, Sunderland hit back straight away, with Danny Higginbotham heading in Danny Collins' left-wing cross on the sixth minute, as the former Southampton defender completed a double of scoring in both home derbies this season.

From there the game teetered back and forth, with the Lads appealing for a penalty as Carlos Edwards' cross caused confusion in the Middlesbrough box, shortly before Michael Chopra needed to go off after bleeding from a facial injury during the course of a Sunderland attack. He wouldn't be the last player to shed blood today.

A foul on Tuncay on 24 minutes saw Stewart Downing have his free kick easily cleared away, as referee Steve Bennett infuriated the home crowd by constantly giving decisions in the way of Middlesbrough, even when there was nothing to give a free kick for! After his miserable performance in our home game with Aston Villa earlier in the season, Bennett had a lot to answer for.

Tuncay headed another cross wide on 27 minutes when Downing dispossessed Chopra before putting in a cross, shortly before efforts from Reid and Chopra were snuffed out.

As the first half petered out, with referee Bennett still being the recipient of the home crowd's ire, the Lads dramatically took the lead when Liam Miller sent a forward ball through to Chopra, who smashed in a left footed shot off the post as we went into the break ahead.

Kenwyne Jones picked up an injury early on in the second half when Boro keeper Brad Jones dived at his feet to collect the ball. Our Trinidad and Tobagan striker appeared to wind himself - but before the game was over, that would be the least of his worries.

Stewart Downing saw a penalty claim turned down after a clash with Dean Whitehead on 49 minutes, as Michael Chopra went down the other end and sent an effort over the bar from just inside the box.

Just after the hour mark, Kenwyne Jones went down after a clash of heads with Emanuel Pogatetz. The striker needed two minutes of treatment from three different physios to stem the bleeding from a head wound, before being bandaged up and continuing on... heading footballs that were being pumped forward to him.

Brad Jones made a few stops for Boro, with Chopra's effort from Whitehead's cross causing problems, before a backwards header from Higginbotham went straight to the keeper as namesake Kenwyne looked on.

Downing saw two efforts blocked in the space of seconds in what should have been a warning sign, but we didn't heed it - meaning that Middlesbrough equalised with a little over quarter of an hour to go, when a pass from Julio Arca deflected off of Grant Leadbitter and into the path of Alves, whose shot beat Gordon, despite a late attempt at a saving challenge from Higginbotham.

Alves' goal totally deflated the game, and with neither side creating many clear cut chances, it looked like we were going to head to a 2-2 draw, only for the Lads to score in the second of five minutes of added time, when he headed Grant Leadbitter's corner in off of Pogatetz, with the Austrian defender being awarded the own goal.

Another late winner for the Lads secures us three precious points - and with Birmingham drawing against Liverpool, the Lads are seven points clear of the Blues with six to play for... meaning that we are safe! Here's to another season of Premier League football; only, without as many low points!

Sunderland: Gordon, Whitehead, Nosworthy, Higginbotham, Collins, Edwards (sub 60, Leadbitter), Miller, Reid, K Richardson, Jones, Chopra (sub 85, Murphy). Subs: Fulop, Harte, Prica.

Middlesbrough: Jones, Young, Wheater, Pogatetz, Taylor, Cattermole (sub 57, Rochemback), Boateng, Arca, Downing, Tuncay, Alves. Subs: Turnbull, Grounds, Shawky, Johnson.