Here Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday experience. When, rarely, Pete is absent or delayed, a supersub does it for him and the seven-word verdict is preceded by an asterisk. Pete’s full analysis of the game will usually appear within a day or two.
So we got as disappointing a performance as any of us could have imagined the team producing on such an important night for Sunderland supporters. Seventy-five years after our first FA Cup trophy, 39 years since the last (with none in between), we never looked like making the semis. Tim Howard barely saw the ball in the first half and his status as non-paying spectator continued for most of the second.
This posting supersedes the brief first half report at https://safc.blog/2012/03/sixers-sevens-half-time-one-down-to-everton-needing-a-lift/
Everton led 1-0 at half time because they deserved to. Nikica Jelavic’s goal was a logical result of the ease with which his team seemed able to create opportunities and smother any Sunderland advance.
After the interval, we needed a sense of urgency, a grasp of midfield and an ability to threaten the Everton goal now and again; instead, David Vaughan managed to run the ball into our own net to complete a comedy of errors acted out in at least two parts. And which team looked like scoring the third goal of the game, or indeed the fourth and fifth? You guessed.
Barnes and Benno, commentating on BBC Radio Newcastle (the dodgy streams were dodgier than usual), said no one could have believed it would be so easy for Everton; Benno feared the worst for Saturday’s visit to the Etihad.
Martin’s Musings – whatever the manager chooses to make of a pedestrian and weak showing just when we needed magic and strength – will appear on these pages in due course. Hardly worth noting, but Salut! Sunderland slipped past 1.5 million “hits” soon after the final whistle.
The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – sums up what all Sunderland supporters feel, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, in the words of one who is usually there …
March 27 2012 FA CUP 6th round replay: SAFC (0) 0 Everton (1) 2 Everton simply better. Hope they win it.
March 24 2012 SAFC (1) 3 Queens Park Rangers (0) 1 Played very well and won with ease
March 20 2012 Blackburn Rovers (0) 2 SAFC (0) 0 Very disappointing. We looked tired and uninterested
March 17 2012 FA Cup 46h round: Everton (1) 1 SAFC (1) 1 Started well, on top but pushed back
March 10 2012 SAFC (0) 1 Liverpool (0) 0 Better by far than an average Liverpool
March 4 2012 Newcastle United (0) 1 SAFC (1) 1Players gave everything and deserved to win
Feb 25 2012 West Bromwich Albion (2) 4 SAFC (0) 0 Baggies better by far as bubble bursts
Click this text: just £9.50, post free, at the Salut! Sunderland Shop
To see Sixer’s Sevens in full, click here. If an asterisk precedes the comment, the words that follow are the work of someone else because Pete is for once absent from the game or his verdict has been delayed …