Who else? That was Peter Sixsmith‘s rhetorical question as Sunderland finally took the lead shortly after Wigan had gone down to 10 men when Gomez was sent off for a bad challenge on Danny Rose. Steven Fletcher was indeed the scorer, his fifth and also Sunderland’s fifth in the Premier this season. Simon Mignolet had earlier kept Wigan scoreless with a remarkable first-half save but SAFC were in the end reasonably comfortable if narrow winners …
Sept 29 2012 SAFC (0) 1 Wigan Athletic (0) 0 Scrappy performance but a win’s a win
Sept 25 2012 Capital One Cup 3rd Round: MK Dons (0) 0 SAFC (0) 2 Second goal settles nerves for comfortable win
Sept 22 2012 West Ham United (0) 1 SAFC (1) 1 Need to be more positive when ahead
Sept 15 2012 SAFC (1) Liverpool (0) 1 More than happy to take a point
Sept 1 2012 Swansea City (1) 2 SAFC (2) 2 *Lack of ambition against 10 cost points
Aug 28 2012 Capital One Cup Round 2: SAFC (1) 2 Morecambe (0) 0 Shrimps potted as we stroll to victory
Aug 18 2012 Arsenal (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 Gritty, determined and a well earned point
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Have to say, I think we were a bit lucky. Wigan looked the more likely in the first half to score. And it might have been the same story in the second had not Gomez been sent off.
Hopefully the win will inject a little confidence. Sess looks like he’s getting up to speed but AJ still short of match fitness.
Was Cattermole missed? I think so. He brings some steel to our midfield. For the Newcastle game we’re going to need that I feel. Anyway, next up, City…
Hey, I got it, too! Amazing how utter dislike for a manager can influence your opinion. Nothing lucky about it…
(well done on predicting the Arse v Chelski score Malcolm, you lucky get!)
Appreciate the first hand report Malcolm. Mignolet is a wonderful goalkeeper, and he’s done it again after his heroics last week. He’s the best goalkeeper we have had in decades. Possibly the best since Monty in fact. I keep saying that he has the ability to be the very best in the world but nobody believes me!
1hr to go before the hockey kids arrive. Better get the chilli and garlic bread on!
Helluva start from Fletcher. Unexpected? Of course it is. Even his most ardent admirer couldn’t have expected this many goals so early on. BTW how did Adam Johnson play?
AJ did OK in parts but obviously needs more match time. He drifted in and out of the game. Sess looked as if he is getting back to what he was last season, though not there yet. McClean was his old self and Bramble was solid. O’Shea gave the ball away too easily but defended well.
OK performance but we were not getting behind the defence enough for my liking.
It wasn’t a classic Jeremy. After a couple of minutes Rose did what we were always told not to do at school and played a short pass into Colback who was in front of goal about 25 yards out. As two Wigan players closed Colback down he slipped and after they got the ball in the box Mignolet made a great reaction save with his legs. We then had a shaky moment from the corner but got away with it when we could easily have been 1-0 down. After 15 a good piece of play down the Wigan left resulted in a great cross. I was sure that would be the opener but somehow our keeper made himself big and saved from point blank range. No doubt about it, it was the Belgian who won the game for us today as much as the Scot, whose finish was top drawer. Strangely from my seat it looked as if it was going wide and it was only when I saw the net bulge and the crowd roared I realised that we had indeed taken the lead.
Scrappy game in parts but a deserved result.
It’s the first time in a long while that we haven’t got the opportunity to see any of our league games (home or away) in their entirity here in the wilds of Canada. Very frustrating indeed but delighted with our first three points never the less.
We have the entire women’s (field) hockey team from University of Western Ontario descending on us for dinner tonight (about 14 hungry kids!), and we’ve spent most of the day preparing, so would have found it difficult to get the time to watch the game even if it had been screened. Where would we be without Norman Stanley? It doesn’t bear thinking about.