Sunderland vs Bolton Wanderers Guess the Score: no pressure then

Jake: ‘what could be simpler than beating the bottom club at home?’

Monsieur Salut writes: it is a telling feature of Sunderland’s predicament that away fans, naturally talking up their teams’ expectations, are correctly predicting the results of games at the Stadium of Light.

So far, the Bolton Wanderers Who are You? has not landed. I have no idea what the man in the hot seat, Gabe John, from the fan site Burnden Aces, will forecast.

Chris Mann, who runs the site, may have been trying to humour us when I suggested he must be feeling upbeat about Tuesday night. “More a sense of pessimism,” Chris replied. “We didn’t win away all season when we were relegated and yet to do so on the road this season – despite coming ever so close yesterday. Your winless home run is no match for our 32 without a Championship away win, so not feeling too optimistic.”

We can but hope he is proved right. Will Monday morning bring explosive news from the SoL? Will that news break on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning in the event of a draw or defeat against the Championship’s bottom club?

Who knows? Some bloke called Short in Florida may have a good idea. All I can say is what I have said on Twitter and at Facebook …

A thumping win, a good but narrower win, any win at all might just make us all feel a little less gloomy and Ellis Short/Martin Bain a little less likely to send Simon Grayson packing. After all, they know the extent to which our current malaise is down to them, and especially Short though he has reason to feel dismayed at all the money, his money, frittered away by successive bosses.

Defeat in a match against such poor opposition used to the the sort of thing to be filed under Unthinkable. Tonight, as I write and as I reflect on Pete Sixsmith’s latest, quite outstandingly gloomy appraisal of another woeful day in the life of an SAFC fan, it doesn’t feel unthinkable at all.

But hey, we know the Salut! Sunderland readership tends to rally to the cause, at least for Guess the Score. Could someone, namely Bolton, be in for a beating?

Usual rules: Bolton fans also welcome to enter. A suitably designed mug awaits the person who is first to post the correct scoreline. He or she must have a UK delivery address. Monsieur Salut’s decision shall be final.

Lots more to read about this match: Sixer’s latest magical instalment in The First Time Ever I Saw Your Team series and Gabe’s Who are You? Keep coming back to see, and Haw’ay the Lads, our Lads …

M Salut, drawn by Matt, colouring by Jake

24 thoughts on “Sunderland vs Bolton Wanderers Guess the Score: no pressure then”

  1. Editor’s note: this is an automatic entry from our Bolton Who are You? interviewee, who reckons 1-0 to the Wanderers

  2. Wifey says 2 – 2 because she “doesn’t want any more of those bloody mugs”. So 2 – 2 is nailed on, get off to the bookies and fill your boots at a very generous 16 – 1.

  3. I agree with Phil and fancy a 2-0 win.

    The trouble is a victory against the bottom team means little in terms of achievement or confidence.

    A defeat, and I know it’s heresy, will probably be better as it should galvanise a reaction by the owner.

    • It might get complicated, Malcolm – those actually present as opposed to the number recorded. Nick Barnes was very dubious about the figures on Saturday

      • Was a decent crowd Saturday , but for an official crowd Tues night I’d say 23,000. As for the match, we’ll loose.

      • I was being tongue in cheek. I imagine the official gate includes those season card holders who stay away.

        When I lived in the Midlands I used to go to concerts at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham and there were always loads of empty seats for contemporary singers and bands because those debentures holders, who were only interested in classical concerts would have to release their seats for resale to the general public and most didn’t.

        At the back end of last season I thought that the actual attendances at the SOL were considerably less than the official ones.

  4. The eternal optimist again it’s got to come sometime and there’s no time like the present let the ghosts and ghoulies out for a Halloween freak time special do the trick and give us a treat 4-0 to the lads ,first clean sheet to start a terrific November then wins all the way to the end of the season ,one can dream and live in hope

  5. Sunderland 1 – 0 Bolton, our first home win, our first clean sheet……this is the bottom side with a woeful record…..however, how many times in living history have Sunderland been the catalyst for opposition teams to grow around (remember Stan Collymore et al).

    No, going to be positive and predict a home win, anything less and the associated ramifications just don’t bear thinking about….last chance saloon here we come, mines a double!

  6. 3-0. This will be the start of one of those 3-4 game runs during which we deserve nothing but go unbeaten. We then get back to where we currently are. Seen it all before

  7. 2-0 to the Lads.

    Hope springs eternal – a home win and a clean sheet.

    No – it isn’t the drink talking either.

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