Stop Press: a 5-2 win against Hartlepool – three goals from McNulty and one each from McGeady and Maguire.
And Bryan Oviedo is off the wage bill with a move to the FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga ….. good luck, Bryan
Sunderland may yet score before the season starts, hopes Monsieur Salut. Fittingly, no one will be there to see it.
After the 1-0 defeat to the Dutch top-flight side Heerenveen, only a week remains before the League One season kicks off with a home game against our owner and executive director’s team of choice, Oxford United.
But at least our goal shy Lads have a chance to boost morale a little with a behind-closed-doors final friendly of the pre-season, versus Hartlepool United on Monday. Yes, we know these games are about fitness more than results but it would do no harm to hear we’d actually hit the back of the net.
My own season got off to a bad start. I balked at £10 to watch the game from afar but was willing to put up £4.50 for a month’s access to the excellent Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett, a temporary solution inevitably leading to another season’s commitment.
My payment was gleefully accepted and acknowledged, but it remained impossible to get the audio stream. Each time I tried, I was simply offered the range of purchases for audio/visual streaming from which I had already chosen.
So I heard and saw nothing but kept tabs via the slow-to-update text commentary from safc.com
Sunderland fans are well served by regional media – the Sunderland Echo, the Chronicle and The Northern Echo as well as Barnes & Benno etc – and I turned for a decent appraisal of Saturday night’s game to the Chron’s excellent James Hunter.
His player ratings are at this link. Check it out for yourselves but what struck me was that he saw no performance better than 6/10 and none worse than 5/10…
It can only get better …
Colin, I had exactly the same problem but finally (5 mins before FT) success. It needs to improve because it’s a vital service for a lot of people.
Well I paid my £5 (my first home game at the old codger’s rate) and will post a match report later, once I’ve had my porridge and done the crossword.
In my half time text to Pete Sixsmith, who was I believe ground hopping in the Northamptonshire wilds, I said this game was nothing to write home about but write about it I shall.
Expect it about the same time the highlights go up on the club website.