More woe for Sunderland as Antonio fires Hammers
REUTERS - West Ham United 1 Sunderland 0
Sunderland's fight for survival at the foot of the Premier League was left looking ever more parlous as Michail Antonio fired West Ham United to a 1-0 win in their excellent final season at Upton Park on Saturday.
Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce, back at his previous club, was left frustrated as he watched a stirring second-half fightback from his 19th-placed side come to nothing.
The Hammers went ahead after poor defending from Patrick van Aanholt on the half hour gifted an opportunity to Antonio, who cut in from the right and deposited a fine left-foot curler past Vito Mannone for his fifth goal of the season.
Jermain Defoe hooked a clear opportunity just wide after the break and Jack Rodwell forced a fine save from Adrian but West Ham, for whom Mark Noble and Andy Carroll both hit the woodwork, took their unbeaten home sequence to 13 games in all competitions and climbed to fifth in the table.
(Reporting by Ian Chadband, editing by Ed Osmond)