Sunderland beats Everton, Newcastle drops to second division

Cote D'Ivoire international defender Lamine Koné was the unlikeliest of marksmen on Wednesday night as Sunderland swept past Everton to maintain their Premier League status.

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce led the side to Premier League safety at the expense of Newcastle United and Norwich City. Reuters/Russell Cheyne

The 27-year-old, who was signed from the French side Lorient in January, scored his first two goals for the club in the 3-0 victory over the Merseysiders.

A Patrick van Aanholt free-kick opened up the scoring seven minutes before half-time for Sam Allardyce's outfit on a night of joy for the 46,000 fans packed into the Stadium of Light.

Not only had their side flirted with and escaped relegation for the fourth year on the trot but their north-east rivals Newcastle United were sent down as a result of the success. Norwich City will also play second tier football next season -  a year after their promotion.

Allardyce, who had performed similar feat of survival with Blackburn Rovers, took over in October from Dick Advocaat with the side second from bottom with three points from eight games.

Though they remained in the relegation zone for most of the season, the players timed their rise to perfection. They beat Norwich City 3–0 at Carrow Road on 16 April, thereby closing the gap to the safety of 17th place to one point.

A 3-2 victory over Chelsea last Saturday coupled with a Norwich City defeat against Manchester United and a Newcasle United stalemate with Aston Villa meant that a home win over an increasingly vacuous Everton side would launch the party.

Everton - were as obligingly anaemic as they were at Leicester City last Saturday before Claudio Ranieri's men were presented with the Premier League trophy.

Allardyce, 61, often villified for his agricultural brand of long ball tactics, praised the fans for their support. "I've got great admiration for them for the amount of encouragement they've shown in a society that is less patient than ever before.

"They've certainly helped us in our fight against relegation and certainly in the game against Chelsea when we came from behind to win and also against Everton."