Here, then, with the Christmas greetings of all at Salut! Sunderland to all who read it, is the latest Guess the Score competition.
After the excitement of Sunday, it’s back to basics with a mug from Personalised Football Gifts as the prize.
Many of us know the sensation of being at St James’ Park when we win. Sixer has been at all five victories since 1999 and we can safely assume Rob Hutchison has experienced it, too. Yesterday, however, he was at the Old Red Lion Pub @ORLpub in London and says it “exploded when Johnno put that critter in, 150 London Branch (SAFCSA) members went absolutely bonkers’. Here, ahead of Keir Bradwell’s ratings, are his man-by-man marks and a single word apiece . . . .
Malcolm Dawson writes….It is wet and windy in the North East of England as Sunday turns to Monday. But in a house of a red and white persuasion, it is cosy and warm, the Christmas lights are twinkling, schooners of sherry and glasses of mulled wine are being raised before a roaring log fire, whilst happy throngs of smiling people are singing carols, pulling crackers and setting off the party poppers. Meanwhile, gazing longingly through the windows at the joyous scene, stands a sad lonely figure, black and white fingerless mittens and a bah humbug black and white Santa hat the only protection from the cold. How he longs to experience the warmth and camaraderie of this, the festive season, but today the spirit of Derby present and that of Derbies past has brought home the despondency of his chosen path.
Peter Sixsmith is enjoying his Sunday evening as he reports on the day’s events on Tyneside …
Just hit the home page – https://safc.blog – and navigate the site to milk the occasion for all it’s worth.
Gus Poyet rightly hails a fabulous winner and a grand team performance. He cannot quite share our tribal passion but he gets it! Read his post-match e-mail to Monsieur Saliut, and a few other delirious fans, and feel his joy …
Pete Sixsmith – Father Christmas to many in the North East – saw our fourth successive win against Newcastle as Adam Johnson blasted home a superb winner after we’d wasted chances galore and briefly handed the initiative to the Mags. Sixer said at half time ‘the final ball needs to be better’ though Sunderland had still carved out the three best chances, two headers (one a sitter) to Wickham and Fletcher’s magnificent volleyed attempt, hitting the bar from Larsson’s tremendous ball). Sixer also bemoaned referee Anthony Taylor’s failure to send off Coloccini for his wretched assault on Fletcher or to book Tiote until he’d committed four yellow card offences. Gomez missed a glaring chance in the second half, Johnson missed another (not so straightforward) but no matter. The win was deserved …
Dec 21 NUFC (0) 0 SAFC (0) 1 Four in a row brings Christmas cheer
Dec 13 SAFC (1) 1 West Ham United (1) 1 One point better than none. Tight game
It seems particularly pertinent to choose today to post a brief tribute to a Sunderland supporter who was born in Newcastle. Rest in peace, George …
In our age of electronic communication, it is quite possible to know other people a little, or even a lot, without ever having met or spoken to them.
So it is with the Blackcats e-mail list, a disparate group of Sunderland fans scattered to assorted corners of the world. When names pop up, I can identify a few fellow supporters I have known for years, a few I am on nodding terms with and many more I have never met.
For a mid-season review of Sunderland’s performances so far, The Observer turned as ever to Pete Sixsmith. Here’s his verdict …
As every schoolboy should know, another December Tyne-Wear derby weekend was a particularly happy one for Sunderland AFC. On December 5 1908, enraged by a United equaliser late in the first half, Sunderland romped to a 9-1 win. In a Newcastle championship-winning season! On the eve of another St James’ derby, and in case anyone missed it the first time round, here is a reminder of life as it was 106 years ago this month …it’s adapted from an article written by
Monsieur Salut for The National, Abu Dhabi …
Previewing the Tyne-Wear derby for ESPN, I mentioned the decision by Northumbria police to treat the game with a less jittery approach to security.
Am I being too cynical in wondering whether the logical outcome, given the sad existence of their horse-punchers and our own minority of not-so-peaceable followers, is that it’ll be back to the ring of steel next time?