Matt Ritchie insists his Bournemouth team-mates can not keep Callum Wilson quiet

He added on BBC Radio Solent: “I got a good first touch, luckily I hit it sweet and it nestled in the top corner”.

The France defender had been given the runaround all afternoon by Wilson, who turned him for the first goal before drawing the two fouls that saw the former Tottenham man dismissed.

“The main thing today was how we reacted to last week’s performance”, he said.

It is great we are playing at this level and our players are being appreciated and talked about. When Bournemouth won promotion from League One in 2012-13, his players knew that if they got better, they would stay part of Howe’s plans. “They deserve every bit of the credit as well”.

Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie fired Eddie Howe’s Cherries into a lead from which Sunderland – who had Younes Kaboul sent off – never recovered.

It was a fine effort from the Dorset club’s leading scorer but nowhere near as spectacular as Matt Ritchie’s volley in the ninth minute which will take a lot of beating for Goal of the Year honours.

For much of the season their defence has been a shambles – Leicester, Norwich and Bournemouth, all took full advantage.

Lens said: “My first thought was that he was right but as I know now it was onside”. “I don’t want to say something about that because they spent £50m, which is a little different to what we’ve done”.

Whilst managers at teams at the wrong end of the table may feel that the pressure is off them in tough fixtures, with them not expected to produce results against the big guns, this approach cannot be taken by Sunderland this week, as they need the wins more than ever as they remain winless and bottom of the Premier League.

Eddie Howe’s Cherries scored twice inside 10 minutes to get off to a flyer before holding Dick Advovaat’s hapless Black Cats at bay at the Vitality Stadium.

“We are all well paid and they give their last money to see that game”.

It may still be only mid-September – and we may be only six games into the season – but the tone for Sunderland’s campaign appears to have been set. Chested down and volleyed home with his left foot, Ritchie will do well to score a better goal this season and so will his teammates.

Younes Kaboul’s unnecessary second yellow card then ended any hope of a late comeback.

Sunderland’s week does not get any easier as they host Manchester City in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday before visiting Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.

The final thing learned from the weekend’s game was something that the manager has already pointed out to everyone, yet something that he does not seem to be willing to change despite this.