Premier League - Sunderland Chop Stewie

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Eurosport - Sat, 20 Sep 17:02:00 2008
Michael Chopra punished Stewart Downing's penalty miss as Sunderland snatched a 2-0 Premier League win at home to Middlesbrough.
  














Substitute Chopra scored both goals, finishing clinically with 10 minutes remaining and then slotting into an empty net during stoppage time.
Downing blazed a controversial spot-kick over when the game was still goalless - his second missed penalty of the season.
A frantic final quarter enlivened a previously drab Tees-Wear 'derby' - the uninspiring play perhaps reflecting the lack of genuine rivalry between these two towns that are separated by 30 miles.
Nevertheless, a two-goal haul represents the perfect tonic for Chopra, who has battled personal problems during a summer that included a trip to rehab.
He faces a battle regaining a place in the starting XI ahead of Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf, but neither man showed Chopra's composure in front of goal.
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate would love to have Roy Keane's relative riches up front. Afonso Alves ploughed a lone furrow in attack after Mido suffered an injury during the warm-up.
The Egyptian joins Turkish international Tuncay Sanli on the treatment table at the Riverside.
Alves had Boro's best chance of the first half, collecting an Adam Johnson through ball and firing straight at Craig Gordon.
Downing had earlier done likewise, making a crisp connection with a volley from the edge of the box.
Cisse took most of Sunderland's shots on goal, but his radar was woefully out-of-kilter and his efforts generally ended up causing more trouble for the fans behind the goal than they did for goalkeeper Ross Turnbull.
Turnbull nearly gifted Sunderland the lead just after the hour with a remarkable blunder. He fumbled the ball as he prepared to roll it out, handing possession to El Hadji Diouf.
A pair of defenders raced back to block the eventual shot on goal.
The game appeared to swing Boro's way on 74 minutes when Nyron Nosworthy was harshly adjudged to have tripped Jeremie Aliadiere inside the Sunderland box.
But Downing, who had hit the bar with his most recent penalty, blazed his strike high into the crowd.
The error was swiftly punished as Chopra exchanged passes with Kieran Richardson, sauntered through a gap in the defence and finished low into the left corner.
As the visitors pushed forward, they were caught on the break for a second. A deflected show landed to the unmarked Steed Malbranque, who in turn supplied Chopra to roll the ball into the empty net