Not the toughest of pre-season opposition but good to record a win all the same. And 399 SAFC supporters were counted among the 2,333 crowd.
Thanks to the combined efforts of the safc.com live text team, and Mr Peter Sixsmith of this parish, I knew fairly quickly that we had taken the lead at Kilmarnock and soon after the end that we had beaten them 2-1.
Stéphane Sessegon’s first half goal – let us see his pre-season rate, three so far, maintained in the Premier! – was cancelled out by Gary Hay’s free kick early in the second half but Connor Wickham grabbed an important , confidence-building winner. We seem to have had bags of chances to make the scoreline more emphatic.
GOAL!!! Sessegnon finally breaks the deadlock. The forward broke past two defenders on the edge of the box and fired a low shot straight passed the out-stretched keeper
Killie awarded a free kick early in the half. Gary Hay fires it over Sunderland’s wall and curls the ball into the top corner, just beating Westwood. It’s 1-1
Fine cross from Elmo to find the young striker who taps the ball at the back post, much to the delight of the Sunderland fans behind the goal.
Jaakoola is having an impressive second half, Sunderland have had a flurry of chances blocked by the keeper … Spoke to soon.. Wickham beats Jaakoola to score his first goal for Sunderland – it’s 2-1
As “Joe” put it in the safc.com text report: “Wouldn’t mind this score on the 13th and 20th August.”
And Pete – a bit early for regular Sixer’s Sevens but his would have been “Enjoyable game with lots to enthuse about” – will have more to say about his midweek visit to Scotland in the next day or so.
Monsieur Salut
6 thoughts on “Kilmarnock 1 Sunderland 2: Sess again, Wickham off mark”
Well, NZog has signed for Villa, tonight, so we’ll have to wait till the winter transfer window for him to go on strike again . . . .
Got to agree Tom!
Bruce has made some potentially excellent signings this close season but we still need to get the left hand side of the team sorted, two years since he took over. Bardsley is not a left back, end of. He does check inside when he overlaps and the manager was wrong to state recently that you cannot tell which is his stronger foot as we rarely saw him dribble past people or put in decent crosses with his left foot last season and like Danny Collins before him, he won the Player of The Year awards for his fabulous commitment as much as his ability as a left back. Adam Johnson and Nzogbia were two players who would have, as the saying goes, put bums on seats more than any other recent targets and a left footed wide man with pace is still much needed in order to give us real balance. I feel sorting the left hand side of the team out is a priority with a good left back and a left winger needed to possibly making the difference between us having a respectable campaign or a really exciting one.
At the risk of sounding like the other Martin (where are you?) and the crime of repaeting myself, the squad looks much more balanced than at this time last year. I am certain that those in charge of the purse strings are working alongside those who look after the playing side and have identified areas that need strengthening and are working towards that.
On top of that the eight new boys have all had time to settle in and get to know the club pre-season, which is something that hasn’t happened for a long time.
We need Gyan to be fired up and productive up front and one of the new lads to be able to step up to the plate if he isn’t. This could be an area of concern if they can’t adapt quickly. My instincts tell me that the club has someone in mind but are keeping it under wraps until some of our highly paid reserves are off loaded.
I agree. I have similar feelings- i just don’t know how it’s going to go this season. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with the new additions but feel we need to address the left side and would prefer a more experienced striker. Still, there’s time yet- The window doesn’t close for over a month and I think (hope?) there’ll be 1 or 2 more to come before the deadline. It would be nice to have it all sorted before the season kicks off but, of course, that’s not always possible.
Well, a win is a win; but I wonder why I feel uneasy about the squad as it stands? I feel we lack in two critical areas, a midfielder capable of holding the ball, and a goalscoring striker. Anyone else have the same feeling of uncertainty?
Well, NZog has signed for Villa, tonight, so we’ll have to wait till the winter transfer window for him to go on strike again . . . .
Got to agree Tom!
Bruce has made some potentially excellent signings this close season but we still need to get the left hand side of the team sorted, two years since he took over. Bardsley is not a left back, end of. He does check inside when he overlaps and the manager was wrong to state recently that you cannot tell which is his stronger foot as we rarely saw him dribble past people or put in decent crosses with his left foot last season and like Danny Collins before him, he won the Player of The Year awards for his fabulous commitment as much as his ability as a left back. Adam Johnson and Nzogbia were two players who would have, as the saying goes, put bums on seats more than any other recent targets and a left footed wide man with pace is still much needed in order to give us real balance. I feel sorting the left hand side of the team out is a priority with a good left back and a left winger needed to possibly making the difference between us having a respectable campaign or a really exciting one.
At the risk of sounding like the other Martin (where are you?) and the crime of repaeting myself, the squad looks much more balanced than at this time last year. I am certain that those in charge of the purse strings are working alongside those who look after the playing side and have identified areas that need strengthening and are working towards that.
On top of that the eight new boys have all had time to settle in and get to know the club pre-season, which is something that hasn’t happened for a long time.
We need Gyan to be fired up and productive up front and one of the new lads to be able to step up to the plate if he isn’t. This could be an area of concern if they can’t adapt quickly. My instincts tell me that the club has someone in mind but are keeping it under wraps until some of our highly paid reserves are off loaded.
I agree. I have similar feelings- i just don’t know how it’s going to go this season. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with the new additions but feel we need to address the left side and would prefer a more experienced striker. Still, there’s time yet- The window doesn’t close for over a month and I think (hope?) there’ll be 1 or 2 more to come before the deadline. It would be nice to have it all sorted before the season kicks off but, of course, that’s not always possible.
Well, a win is a win; but I wonder why I feel uneasy about the squad as it stands? I feel we lack in two critical areas, a midfielder capable of holding the ball, and a goalscoring striker. Anyone else have the same feeling of uncertainty?