SUNDERLAND 5, WOLVES 2

SUNDERLAND survived a second-half wobble to run out 5-2 victors against Wolves, although the scoreline does not do a lot of justice to Mick McCarthy's visitors.

McCarthy returned to his former club keen to frustrate the Black Cats but two penalties looked to have put the game beyond their reach. A quickfire response brought the scores back to 2-2, only for the home side to clinically score three more times with Darren Bent and Kenwyne Jones both helping themselves to doubles.

George Elokobi crunched danger man Bent early on and, when the striker was felled again on seven minutes, a penalty was awarded by referee Lee Mason. Segundo Castillo's clumsy challenge may have made contact with the ball but it was easy to see why the referee pointed to the spot. Bent struck a confident finish to Wayne Hennessey's right to open the scoring.

Wolves were bright with Kevin Doyle a threat and the Republic of Ireland international was unfortunate not to earn a penalty of his own when being barged over by Michael Turner inside the box. Hennessey made a double stop to thwart Jones and the Wales keeper later denied Bent as Sunderland relied on their front two to do the damage.

Matt Jarvis's free kick allowed Doyle to flick a header inches wide as half time approached but there was no real indication of the goal flurry that was to follow in the second period. Barely two minutes after the break, Bent moved across Christophe Berra inside the area and another clumsy challenge produced another spot-kick. Bent curiously allowed Jones to do the business this time around and the big striker made no mistake from 12 yards.

Wolves' response will have thrilled McCarthy as, within eight minutes, they were back on level terms. Firstly, Berra found himself forward on the left-hand side of the box and, when Craig Gordon parried his drive, it cannoned off John Mensah and into his own net. Then Kieran Richardson's backpass prompted a diving save by Gordon to concede a free kick very close to goal. When Karl Henry's effort was charged down, Doyle picked up the pieces to ram it home.

The home crowd were edgy and a shock was on the cards but Jones changed the mood when producing a superb finish after a ball bounced to him off strike partner Bent. The Trinidad & Tobago talisman drilled a precise finish wide of Hennessey's dive and into the far corner of the net with 20 minutes left to send the red-and-white hordes wild again.

Bent went close before bruising centre back Michael Turner charged in to power home an Andy Reid corner, making up for the goal that was initially given to him on his debut against Hull City, only to later go down as an own goal.

Richardson brilliantly headed off his own line to deny Greg Halford a goal against his former club and it was tough luck on Wolves when, in injury time, a neat move allowed Bent to fire goalwards and the shot deflected off Michael Mancienne to wrongfoot Hennessey and make it 5-2.

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