Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 2 Crystal Palace 2. Borini the saviour

Jake: catch Sixer's instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season

Big Sam told BT Sport’s Football Tonight show he’d celebrate Sunderland survival with ‘a very nice holiday in Spain and a few bottles of champagne’. We can safely assume he can afford champagne that will keep in the cellar until promotion next year. This was a game we knew we had to win; the scraped draw makes it a lot less likely we’ll be celebrating come May.

On the basis of a grim second-half performance that allowed Connor Wickham to do what he rarely did for us, score twice or at all, we were lucky to grab even a point. Fabio Borini’s equaliser came from nothing. It was a fabulous strike, speculative or not, with time running out. But unless we surprise everyone by producing a mightier team performance than this at Southampton, it’s looking bleak. Pete Sixsmith, excellent on BBC Radio Newcastle in the pre-match buildup, will be back with more; this is his seven-word instant verdict … Pete Sixsmith

Jake: 'one point nee good - inevitable that Wickham would come and do that'
Jake: ‘one point nee good – inevitable that Wickham would come and do that’

March 1 2016 Sunderland (1) 2 Crystal Palace (0) 2 Borini thunderbolt salvages a scarcely deserved point

Feb 27 2016 West ham United 1 (1) Sunderland (0) 0 Hugely disappointing. Points there for the taking

Feb 13 2016 Sunderland (1) 2 Man Utd (1) 1 Sam’s new boys make all the difference

Feb 6 2016 Liverpool (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 2
1) Could this be the season’s turning point? and
2) *The window’s shut but so’s the trapdoor

Jake: catch Sixer's instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season at https://safc.blog/category/sixers-sevens/sixers-sevens-2015-2016/
Feb 2 2016 Sunderland (0) 0 Manchester City (1) 1 One point was the least we deserved

Jan 23 2016 Sunderland (1) 1 AFC Bournemouth (1) 1 Suppose one point is better than none

Jan 16 2016 Tottenham Hotspur 4 (1) Sunderland 1 (1) Poor decision making on field and benchJan 13 2016

Swansea (2) 2 Sunderland (1) 4 Much improved second half after dismal first and a second texted 7 came in shortly afterwards – Always good to win away in Europe!

Jan 9 2016 Arsenal (1) 3 Sunderland (1) 1 Had chances but they have better players

Jan 2 2016 Sunderland (1) 3 Aston Villa (1) 1 The old hands pulled us through this

Dec 30 2015 Sunderland 0 (0) Liverpool 1 (0): Better performance but the inexorable slide continues

Dec 26 2015 Man City 4 (3) Sunderland 1 (0): Drew second half; shame about the first

Dec 19 2015 Chelsea 3 (2) SAFC 1 (0) *Fought like tigers. Undone by woeful start

Dec 12 2015 SAFC 0 (0) Watford (1) 1 * Disappointingly insipid and cannot complain about result

Dec 5 2015 *Arsenal (1) 3 SAFC (1) 1: Deserved better but couldn’t take our chances

Nov 28 2015 SAFC (0) 2 Stoke City (0) 0 Totally unrecognisable from the last home game

Nov 23 2015 *Crystal Palace (0) 0 Sunderland (0) 1: Winning ugly but winning. Sam’s the Man*

Nov 7 2015: SAFC (0) 0 Southampton (0) 1 A truly dismal display that heralds relegation

Nov 1 2015: Everton (2) 6 SAFC (1) 2 The usual post-derby anti-climax knocks us flat or Quite clear why Advocaat decamped to Holland or The defending was like Halloween: absolutely frightening

Oct 25 2015: SAFC (1) 3 Newcastle United (0) 0 Nothing better than the joy of six

Oct 17 2015: West Bromwich Albion (0) 1 SAFC (0) 0 * At least the pies were good quality to which Sixer adds Another Pantilimon error means still no win

Oct 3 2015: SAFC (2) 2 West Ham United (1) 2 Dick can be proud of his (?) players

September 26 2015: Manchester United (1) 3 SAFC (0) 0 Routine for United thanks to defensive errors

September 22 2015: League Cup: SAFC (0) 1 Manchester City (4) City’s brilliance aided by pathetic Sunderland defending or Defence horribly exposed by a rampant City or Not on the same planet as City

September 19 2015: AFC Bournemouth (2) 2 SAFC (0) 0 Couldn’t recover from a truly abysmal start

September 13 2015: SAFC (0) 0 Tottenham Hotpsur (0) 1 Vastly improved performance not reflected by result

August 29 2015: Aston Villa (2) 2 SAFC (1) 2 * M’Vila and Lens snatch a shaky point

August 25 2015: League Cup 2nd round: SAFC (3) 6 Exeter City (3) 3 Young hearts run free in second half

August 22 2015: SAFC (0) 1 Swansea City (1) 1 Gloom lifting after a more determined performance

August 15 2015: SAFC (0) 1 Norwich City (2) 3 I’ve seen some shockers in my time …

August 8 2015: Leicester City (3) 4 SAFC (0) 2 No encouragement to take from this shocker



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4 thoughts on “Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 2 Crystal Palace 2. Borini the saviour”

  1. Altidore’s scoring fairly regularly for his Canadian team, from what I’ve heard; maybe N’Doye can join him, because there’s no way he’s a premier league player, even taking into consideration his ‘goal’ tonight. Borini must sit and watch and wonder at being behind him on the teamsheet, because I do!

  2. Yeah. And who scores for West Brom against Leicester (My closest Prem Team) but Craig Gardner. Oh my giddy aunt all the ex players have had fun tonight.

    • Even Danny “Couldn’t Score In A Byker Brothel” Graham scored toneet! If Altidore is playing somewhere tonight miracles could happen!

  3. We had to win this one. But, we picked up 3 points against Man Utd, which kind of levels things off. We may still escape. Hugely disappointed with the result. But good on Borini to level it at the end. Finally he did something.
    Anything from Away to Southampton is a bonus, and then Everton. We have to win that game now. I had it down as an Unknown, but I had this game down as a win.
    Bloody Connor Wickham. That’s who I blame. :o)

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