The duo, along with Jeremain Lens, led a second-half resurgence as the Lads looked to claw back a two-goal deficit following Christian Stuani’s double, but despite Patrick van Aanholt netting in the 71st minute Boro held on for the points.
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And after making a personal check on the former Tottenham attacker in Sunderland’s 2-1 opening day defeat against Manchester City, Defoe’s superbly executed goal against Pep Guardiola’s stars only confirmed his scoring pedigree.
Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka, has said that the 2-1 Tees-Wear derby victory over Sunderland, was a special moment for both the fans and the players. There’s plenty of time for new manager David Moyes to turn the ship around and although losing a derby is always incredibly disappointing, there were some positives to take from today’s game.
In an already young Sunderland team, Joel Asoro became the Club’s youngest ever player when he came on for Duncan Watmore on 80 minutes, but Middlesbrough had recovered their composure by then and saw the game out.
He said: “It was always going to be hard”.
To make matters worse, skipper John O’Shea succumbed to a groin problem, which could yet have repercussions for the Republic of Ireland as they prepare to launch their World Cup qualifying campaign, in between the two first-half Cristhian Stuani goals which ultimately handed Boro the points. But that’s football, we didn’t take our chances and when they go theirs they took them.
“We might have got something out of it second half, we did get a goal back and maybe nobody would have complained had it ended 2-2, but we were very much patched together and we ran out of steam”.
“I don’t think we deserved to go in 1-0 down”. Obviously we’ve got two or three injuries that will come back, but we will add to it as well. “We are playing well, compact and with intensity so it was important to get points as quickly as possible”.
And including Defoe in his first England squad for the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovakia in Bratislava on September 4 would give Allardyce some insurance that he has an ideal impact sub ready and waiting on the bench if the Three Lions need a rescuing goal.
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He said: “I am really pleased, especially for the players, because once again after the game last Saturday, they have shown that we are ready to play in the Premier League”. “I think the way we played in the second half, (we) should not be scared of anyone”, said the Dutchman.
