Sunderland Vs Norwich City: Player Ratings

Simon Mignolet - 6

Steady as ever, let down by the rest - as ever.

Craig Gardner - 7

One of the very few outfield players to come away with any credit. Stuck the penalty away brilliantly and did what he could to drive forward from full back.

John O'Shea - 3

Too easily bullied, not enough leadership, and his distribution was downright depressing.

Carlos Cuellar - 5

Decent enough for the time he was on the pitch. Nothing more than that, though. I was half-tempted to give him an extra mark for 'not being Titus Bramble'. How low our standards have slipped.

Danny Rose - 6

Like Gardner he was a genuine factor in the opposition half of the pitch and did what he could. It's a shame the actual attacking players didn't share their urgency.

Adam Johnson - 5

His delivery was much improved on recent weeks, and he had one or two decent little spells in the game. He was one of the people you'd have expected to do more to break down the 10-men though, and he didn't.

Seb Larsson - 3

Toiled away generally looking more pretty than effective. If we gave marks for the pronouncement of arm-flailing gestures after giving away stupid and cheap free kicks, he'd have won our player of the season competition on this performance alone.

David Vaughan - 3

Just an uglier and less disgruntled Seb Larsson really.

Stephane Sessegnon - 5

Always tried to run at players and create, and in many ways he was the most threatening Sunderland player, but ultimately far too wasteful.

Danny Graham - 2

I doubt I'd have noticed him on the pitch if he'd have been dressed as a Smurf.

Steven Fletcher - 4

Definitely lost his groove since being shoe-horned into a front two with another striker who seems to do nothing but fight him for space.

Titus Bramble - 2

Only surprising thing about this performance was that it took him as long as a minute to get caught dorping around and gifting Norwich a great chance.

James McClean - 5

Generally did okay when he came on. I'd happily welcome him back into the first team at this point. More stable team with him in it.

Connor Wickham - 5

Not on for long, but did enough to perpetuate the mystery of why on earth he doesn't get more chances to impress.

Man Of The Match - Craig Gardner

The referee was the obvious candidate, but apparently we can't do that so Craig Gardner gets it. Mind, probably best to think of this as the 'annoyed me the least' award rather than Man of the Match.

We'll have more match reaction in the coming days, so stick around in our Match Stream which you'll find HERE.