There were four games today in the English Premiership. Second from bottom, Bradford City played host to fellow strugglers Southampton, who gave their survival hopes a boost with a 2-1 victroy while Leicester and Everton played out a 1-1 draw at Filbert Street in their mid-table clash. Wimbledon travelled to Sunderland, but did nothing to help their cause as they went down 2-1 while Watford and Derby could not manage any goals, Stefan Schnoor missing a penalty opportunity for Derby in the second half.
Sunderland are now back on course for a place in the UEFA Cup next season after Irish international Kevin Kilbane's winner eight minutes from time left Wimbledon shocked. Kilbane found himself unmarked and made no mistake after Niall Quinn had played the ball across the face of the area following a corner from Alex Rae.
Quinn had opened the scoring with his 13th of the season, only for Michael Hughes to get the equaliser in bizarre fashion in the 73rd minute when his shot took a wicked deflection off Sunderland's Eric Roy, leaving keeper Thomas Sorensen stranded.
Sunderland's win takes them to sixth in the table and stunned Wimbledon, who suffered their fourth straight defeat.
Bradford look doomed to the drop after crashing to their fifth successive defeat against fellow relegation strugglers Southampton at Valley Parade. Paul Jewell's Bantams have now picked up just two points out of the last 24, with seemingly no end in sight to their slide, while the Saints now seem a safe 11 points clear of the drop zone.
Chris Marsden's effort had put Southampton ahead shortly after half-time, although his goalbound shot looked as if it would be easily covered by Bradford 'keeper Matt Clarke, but the committed 'keeper was left beaten and wrong-footed as the central midfielder's first goal of the season took a deflection off City skipper Stuart McCall. In the 76th minute Southampton took a two-goal lead when Latvian Marian Pahars scored with his first touch after coming on as a sub for Matt Le Tissier, driving towards the area before unleashing a right-foot shot beyond Clarke for his 10th goal of the season.
Within a minute, Bradford had pulled one back when Robbie Blake showed equal tenacity. After being initially denied by Saints 'keeper Neil Moss, he then seized upon the rebound and fired home into the roof of the net with two Saints players standing on the line. For all their late pressure however Bradford failed to produce an equaliser.
Don Hutchison's first-half goal was enough to give Everton a point at Filbert Street in a match that had all the hallmarks of an end-of-season stroll. Gerry Taggart had put striker-stricken Leicester ahead early on, but just a couple of wasted chances by Nicky Barmby in the second half threatened to break the deadlock.
First he scuffed an 8-yarder wide from a Richard Dunne pass, and then he had the ball taken off his toe when about to strike from a couple of yards after Danny Cadamarteri's shot had been palmed to him by Tim Flowers.
Leicester could provide no more of a threat with Tony Cottee starting his first game in a month, Martin O'Neill unable to pick Stan Collymore, Darren Eadie and Frank Sinclair through injury.
Stefan Schnoor blew Derby's chance of securing crucial points from a relegation battle against Watford at Vicarage Road when he missed a second-half penalty. The German defender saw his shot saved by Alec Chamberlain after Darryl Powell had been fouled by Robert Page.
It was one of the few memorable moments from a dour encounter between two teams who have spent most of the season languishing in the lower reaches of the league.
There are three games tomorrow with Aston Villa at home to Leeds United, Liverpool taking on Tottenham and Arsenal hosting Sheffield Wednesday. Villa manager John Gregory is to insist his players wear black armbands in memory of the two Leeds supporters killed in Istanbul during tomorrow's Premiership clash between the two clubs.
