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Arsene Wenger was left with egg on his face again after his latest prediction, that his Arsenal youngsters would win the Worthington Cup, backfired spectacularly in a Sunderland fightback which brought Howard Wilkinson his first win as manager. No doubt Wilkinson, who has so far suffered one defeat and two draws in the Barclaycard Premiership since taking over from the sacked Peter Reid, would have preferred the opening victory to come with the more meaningful reward of league points to aid Sunderland's survival fight in the top division. His team selection - there were nine changes from the team which started Sunday's 1-1 stalemate at Charlton, reflected his priorities with two young debut-makers, Michael Proctor and Mark Rossiter, in both attack and defence. But he will certainly take this result and performance as a major step forward, after Kevin Kyle and headers from Marcus Stewart and Darren Williams turned the match on its head. So will Stewart, yet to score his first League goal since moving from Ipswich in September, who took his goal tally in the competition to three, having doubled up in the 7-0 rout of Cambridge in the previous round. Arsenal also fielded an unfamiliar side but there was still plenty of talent and experience in their ranks - enough, certainly, to make Wenger say before the start that they could stick together and win the competition. Who would have guessed this would turn out to be Arsenal's fifth defeat in six games? It looked plain sailing for Gunners, showing 11 changes from the side which started Sunday's win at Fulham when Robert Pires fired his first goal since March - when he was cut down by a serious knee injury. Dutchman Giovanni van Bronckhorst, having his first senior start since a similar injury in February, set up the goal with a cleverly pulled-back low free-kick in the 11th minute. Footballer of the Year Pires did the rest with a cracking right-foot drive through a crowded penalty area from 20 yards. Francis Jeffers, the �8million former Everton striker, was given a rare starting opportunity - and he missed two chances before calmly slipping home a third after Kanu had set him with up with a determined run and slide-rule pass. And with just 12 minutes left of the first half Sunderland looked to be heading to another Highbury defeat - they went down 3-1 in the league clash here last month. But their amazing second half turnaround started when Jurgen Macho saved what looked a certain goal by brilliantly turning away van Bronckhorst's fierce shot. Arsenal were given fair warning when they struggled to clear Stewart's flick-on from a corner by half time substitute Matthew Piper in the 54th minute. A repeat move two minutes later saw Scottish striker Kevin Kyle soar to thump home the former Ipswich forward's back header and give the visitors hope. Arsenal centre-backs Igor Stepanovs and Greek partner Stathis Tavlaridis began to look just as vulnerable as Sol Campbell and Pascal Cygan during Arsenal's recent rocky run. Sunderland equalised when Stewart delicately put away youngster Michael Proctor's cross from the right for the equaliser. And two minutes later Proctor popped up on the left to provide the service for a winner which was impressively despatched by Williams, after Stanislav Varga dumped Kanu on the turf to start the move. The Gunners' inevitable late siege brought near-misses by Jeffers and van Bronckhorst - who also went down claiming a penalty which was denied by referee Alan Wiley - but fate had seemingly sealed it for Sunderland by then and their fans were celebrating their first victory at Highbury in 19 years at the end. Teams: Arsenal: Taylor, Tavlaridis, Luzhny, Stepanovs, Svard (Garry 81), Toure, van Bronckhorst, Pennant (Volz 81), Pires, Jeffers, Kanu. Subs Not Used: Shaaban, Sidwell, Thomas. Goals: Pires 12, Jeffers 32. Sunderland: Macho, Williams, Varga, Thome, Thirlwell, McCartney, Rossiter, Proctor, Schwarz (Piper 45), Kyle, Stewart. Subs Not Used: Clark, Byrne, Dickman, Turns. Booked: Piper. Goals: Kyle 56, Stewart 70, Williams 72. Attendance: 19,059 Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire). |