Deadly Defoe is Sunderland's away day hero again
By Neil Robinson
LONDON (Reuters) - Nobody is enjoying his away days like Jermain Defoe just now -- and nobody is more appreciative than manager Sam Allardyce, who fancies that Sunderland would already have been relegated from the Premier League if not for his striker's heroics on the road.
Defoe's 93rd-minute penalty that rescued a point for Sunderland in the 1-1 draw at Stoke City on Saturday was his 10th goal in his last 11 games away from the Stadium of Light.
These are goals that are burnishing Allardyce's battling side with the belief that, once again, they can avoid relegation with a late spring up the table.
Each time in the last three years the Black Cats have scrambled to safety after appearing likely candidates for the drop and Allardyce is clear who is behind their recent revival.
"Where would we be without Jermain Defoe? Relegated probably," Allardyce said after Saturday's late escape. "The other lads haven't scored enough goals. Jermain has kept us close to getting out of trouble," he says.
"I am going home satisfied. It is a point gained rather than two dropped. We have our destiny in our own hands and have got to play better so if the referee slips up we have got to make sure it doesn't cost us."
Sunderland remain in the bottom three but are just a point behind Newcastle United with a game in hand on their local rivals.
Not only did Defoe score the penalty but won it too by drawing the foul from Stoke's Geoff Cameron deep into injury time. The striker composed himself on the spot before sending the keeper the wrong way to spark joyous Sunderland celebrations.
"When it is a penalty you try and relax and there was no negative thoughts in my mind," said Defoe. "It is a massive relief, we will take the point.
"Everyone worked hard and put a shift in and we will fight to the end. The lads gave the ball to me and I was confident I would score."
Eleven of Defoe's 14 goals have been scored away from home, with only Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane and Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez being more prolific on the road.
Yet with Sunderland's next two games at the Stadium of Light against Chelsea and Everton, the challenge for Defoe now is to bring his goals back home.
Allardyce knows the stakes could not be higher. "We have got to win that game in hand and certainly next week against Chelsea," he said.
(Reporting by Neil Robinson, editing by Ian Chadband)