John McCormick writes: Pete Sixsmith will be on Santa duty shortly. I suspect he will be happy to have a break from poor defending and poor forwards although we may have done just enough to stay in contention on a day when other late goals worsened our position.
Perhaps Pete will let us know in a match report tomorrow if Malcolm Dawson is not the designated provider. Whoever it is, until then we’ll have to rely on Pete’s seven word text from a very wet Stadium of Light
23 November Sunderland 1 (0) Coventry City 1 (1) Not great but got a deserved point
19 November FA Cup 1st Round: Gillingham 1 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) AET *Come back Danny Graham¹, all is forgiven.
(¹choose your own, it doesn’t have to be Jozy)
12 November, Leasing.com Trophy. Scunthorpe United 3 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) *Pete Sixsmith got it right first time / Another game and yet another embarrassing performance.
9 November FA Cup 1st Round. Sunderland 1 (1) Gillingham 1 (0) We are getting worse game by game / Relegation looks likelier than promotion after this
5 November Leasing.com Trophy. Sunderland 1 (1) Leicester City U 21 2 (0) Experienced players humiliated by far superior teenagers / Trafalgar Square shenanigans cancelled for this season.
2 November Sunderland 1 (0) Southend United 0 (0) Where would we be without Luke O’Nien?
29 October Carabao Cup: Oxford United 1 (1) Sunderland 1 (0) Oxford win on penalties *No clean sheet, no surprises, no Wembley
26 Oct Shrewsbury Town 1 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) *Frenzied fightback fails to paper over cracks
22 Oct Sunderland 5 (3) Tranmere Rovers 0 (o) Performance and win impressive with Maguire outstanding
19 Oct. Wycombe Wanderers (1) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 No chance of promotion this season whatsoever
8 October Leasing.com Trophy Sunderland (0) 3 (a) Grimsby Town 2 (0) Hardly a resounding triumph but will do or The Wembley train is leaving the station
5 October Lincoln City 2 (1) Sunderland 0 (0) Cannot offer any defence against this embarrassment.
27 September Sunderland (2) 2 MK Dons (0) 1 Hung on: something we don’t always do or Good first half but shakier after break
24 September Carabao Cup: Sheffield United (0) 0 Sunderland (1) 1 Everything we want from our Sunderland team or A very impressive performance; clean sheet too
21 September Bolton Wanderers 1 (1) Sunderland 1 (1) Apathetic performance which exposes our weaknesses.
17 September Sunderland 1 (1) Rotherham United 1 (0) Decent half hour, very poor sixty minutes
14 September Accrington Stanley 1 (1) Sunderland 3 (3) Scrappy and stuttering, result better than performance
31 August Peterborough United 3 (1) Sunderland 0 (0) Not a single positive from this shocker*
28 August Carabao Cup: Burnley 1 (1). Sunderland 3 (1) I just love a midweek in Lancashire/ Loads of effort and plenty of quality.
24 August Sunderland 3 (1) AFC Wimbledon 1 (1) Comfortable win which should enthuse American visitors
20 August Rochdale 1 (1) Sunderland 2 (1) Ecky Thump, that were a tight un
17 August Sunderland 2 (2) Portsmouth 1 (1) Up and running. Committed rather than classy
13 August Carabao Cup: Accrington Stanley (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 3 Had to work hard with McGeady outstanding
or this second 7 which came in as the draw for round two sends us back over the Pennines: Could just as easily have said McNulty
10 August Ipswich Town 1 (1) Sunderland 1 (0) *Decent recovery from absolutely shocking first half
3 August Sunderland 1 (0) Oxford United 1 (1) Looks like a repeat of last season