Teenager Chris Rigg’s brilliant backheel earns Sunderland a tight derby victory

As the holder of not merely a doctorate in human physiology and biomechanics but a diploma in the mental preparation of elite athletes, Régis Le Bris is a slightly unusual Championship manager.

Given that Sunderland’s 48-year-old head coach first took charge of a senior team only two years ago, eyebrows were raised when the Frenchman who had just choreographed Lorient’s relegation from Ligue One swapped Brittany for Wearside this summer.

So far at least a bold move looks an increasingly inspired one as Le Bris’s vibrant young team continue to lead the way in the second tier with five wins from their first six league games.

Watched by a crowd of almost 43,000, his first Wear-Tees derby ended in a victory that banished memories of Sunderland’s unexpected defeat at Plymouth last Saturday and clinched three precious points against potential promotion rivals from 30 miles down the A19.

A misty, murky, afternoon – when the slate grey cloud sat so low in the sky that, from a distance, the Stadium of Light seemed in peril of sinking into the adjacent River Wear – cried out for illumination.

View image in fullscreen Chris Rigg backheels home from a tight angle to give Sunderland the lead against local rivals Middlesbrough. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Fortunately for Le Bris, Chris Rigg was around to provide it. With 24 minutes on the clock and Middlesbrough the dominant side, Sunderland’s 17-year-old midfielder was well placed to pounce when Boro failed to deal with the fallout from Patrick Roberts’ cross-shot. After rounding Middlesbrough goalkeeper, Seny Dieng, Rigg overcame an unhelpful angle by audaciously backheeling the ball over the line.

As home fans celebrated an outrageously skilful goal, Boro had reason to rue the early moment when, having connected with a Isaiah Jones’s glorious right wing cross, Scotland’s unmarked Tommy Conway seemed certain to score but, instead, ended up watching his header brush the crossbar.

Until Rigg’s opener, Michael Carrick’s side had shaded things, frustrating Le Bris’s players and the crowd with a patient, measured, build-from-the-back approach, heavy on the sort of short-passing interchanges that afforded the visitors a decent amount of control.

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Boro’s problem was that they struggled to conjure clearcut scoring chances, leaving Anthony Patterson underworked in the home goal. If that situation was quite possibly exacerbated by the clattering first-half challenge from Sunderland’s Trai Hume that earned a yellow card and appeared to diminish Emmanuel Latte Lath’s effectiveness in the centre-forward role, a distinct lack of goals from open play has proved a worrying, recurring theme of the new season for Carrick.

Maybe his team could sometimes do with mixing things up a bit and attempting one quick, early long pass instead of about 33 perfectly calibrated shorter ones.

Boro were lucky not to fall further behind when, deep in the second period, Romaine Mundle’s free-kick ricocheted off a post. No matter, by then Sunderland had already done enough.

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