Monsieur Salut writes: a draw at Stoke would normally seem acceptable. But wins for Hull and Leicester – also away – dumped us in the bottom three, so it felt more like losing. The next three games – Southampton and Leicester at home, Everton away – will decide our fate. Pete Sixsmith gave the game at Stoke a miss, opting to follow events at the Britannia on the radio while watching Shildon, his home town as it is mine, keep Northern League title hopes firmly alive with a 3-1 win against Durham City. So the seven-word verdict is not his but a supersubs’s. Listening from afar, I imagined my fellow-SAFC supporters all over the world mixing jubilation and trepidation as Wickham punished Bergavic’s first-minute mistake. Adam’s equaliser was probably the most predictable goal of our season. We had chances to regain the lead but a draw was probably a fair outcome …
April 25 Stoke City (1) 1 SAFC (1) 1 *A day when drawing seemed like defeat
April 11 SAFC (0) 1 Crystal Palace (0) 4 Yet another truly miserable performance. A disgrace or No big bonus for Dick after this or Back to 11 men running around aimlessly or Only Sunderland could produce such a stinker
April 5 Sunderland (1) 1 Newcastle United (0) 0 Five in a row sounds so nice or Guess which Manfred Mann song they’re playing or I will be on the Advocaat tonight
March 21 2015 West Ham United (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 * Spirited fighting performances nearly gains a point
March 14 2015 Sunderland (0) 0 Aston Villa (4) 4 Dreadful performance that should bring Gus’s resignation.
March 3 2015 Hull City (1) 1 SAFC (0) 1 Last twenty minutes encouraging. First seventy awful
Feb 28 2015 Manchester United (0) 2 SAFC (0) 0 * United punish lacklustre no-show in second half
Feb 21 2015 SAFC (0) 0 West Bromwich Albion (0) 0 An awful game that just oozed mediocrity
Feb 15 2015 FA Cup 5th Round: Bradford City (1) 2 SAFC (0) 0 Miserable and abject, leaves us relegation certainties … OR … And we thought Tuesday was bad? Disgraceful … OR … Worse than Brentford 10 years ago. Disgraceful … OR … Now free to fully concentrate on relegation
Feb 10 2015 SAFC (0) 0 Queens Park Rangers (2) 2 Didn’t you just know this would happen?
Feb 7 2015 Swansea (0) 1 SAFC (1) 1 * Had to be bloody Ki, didn’t it?
Feb 3 2015 Fulham (1) 1 SAFC (0) 3 Our quality showed in the second half
Jan 31 2015 SAFC (2) 2 Burnley (0) 0 Comfortable. All of a sudden pressure removed
Jan 24 2015 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (0) 0: Inept selection – awful from beginning to end
Jan 17 2015 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2 SAFC (1)1 *Useful Defoe debut ruined by familiar failings or, from Sixer: Other results make this defeat less damaging
Jan 10 2015 Sunderland (0) 0 Liverpool (1) 1 Selection and tactics raise questions about Poyet
Jan 04 2015 FA Cup 3rd Round: SAFC (1) 1 Leeds United (0) 0 Scraped through after a shocking second half
Jan 1 2015 Manchester City (0) 3 SAFC (0) 2 Opened up too easily for the winner
Dec 28 Aston Villa (0) 0 SAFC (0) *Just couldn’t break down 10 man Villa
Dec 26 SAFC (1) 1 Hull City (1) 3 A good Christmas spoiled by awful performance.
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
Dec 6 Liverpool (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 Ho ho ho: a well deserved point
Dec 3 SAFC (1) 1 Manchester City (2) 4 City’s hoodoo ended, aided by poor defending
Nov 29 SAFC (0) 0 Chelsea (0) 0*A performance to make Sunderland supporters proud or Could and maybe should have won it
Nov 22 Leicester City (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 Two points lost rather than one gained
Nov 9 SAFC (0) 1 Everton (0) 1 A good point against a good side
Nov 3 Crystal Palace (0) 1 SAFC (1) 3 *Sometimes a win is all that matters
Oct 25 SAFC (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 2 *Farcical errors lead to further foot shooting
Oct 18 Southampton (3) 8 SAFC (0) 0 Total humiliation today. Players should be ashamed
Oct 4 SAFC (2) 3 Stoke City (1) 1 Duck broken but still some hairy moments
Sept 27 SAFC (0) 0 Swansea City (0) 0 Better performance but cannot finish teams off
Sept 23 Capital One Cup 3rd Round: SAFC (1) 1 Stoke City (1) 2 No Wembley date this March. Wasted evening
Sept 20 Burnley 0 (0) SAFC 0 (0) A thoroughly disappointing performance. Early optimism evaporating
Sept 13 SAFC (1) 2 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2 Not quite sure how we managed that>
August 30th: QPR (1) 1 SAFC (0) 0 Terrible result, performance was not much better
August 27: Capital One Cup 2nd Round: Birmingham City (0) 0 SAFC (0) 3 Not quite as comfortable as it sounds
Sunday August 24 :SAFC (1) 1 Manchester United (1) 1 Happy with the performance – and Gus’s style
Saturday August 16: West Bromwich Albion (1) 2 SAFC (1) 2
Larsson digs us out of a hole** See how Sixer, and occasional subs, captured last season at
https://safc.blog/2014/05/sixers-sevens-safc-1-swansea-3-after-the-lord-mayors-show/
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The lights been turned off for months ! Southampton are a good side,nothing against them,Leicester are on a roll and deserve to stay up for battling every game and as for Arsenal and Chelsea,,,do I need to say anything…Were doomed,Doomed I tell you,Doomed,….Good luck to Shildon against Bedlington….Champions……
It appears now, despite an encouraging draw, Sunderland’s effort might be a case of ‘too little, too late’.
The upcoming Southampton match now assumes gigantic proportions and probably will determine our fate. Draw or lose and we may as well turn off the light, the party’s over.
It’s Southampton next. Will 6 points be enough now, even if we actually get them?I say this in the knowledge that both Leicester and Hull have 4 home games each. 4!
There were things about Sunderland at Stoke that seemed fresh and new, especially in the second half. Unfortunately, though, we were let down by familiar failings in the final third.
There were positives which we can take into next week; Advocaat is no mug, he quickly sees what the problems are in our play and knows what we need to do. Just hope like hell he can take the good from Stoke and turn it into something better, which it will have to be to stay up from here.
If we win against Leicester this weekend. We stand a chance. But, I feel we will not win. I’ll be in the North East for my mum’s funeral. No match day thing. Sunderland Honour the people who put you there.
Support first class again and the team showed far more ‘battle’ and commitment. A good point despite the other results. And I got to sit next to Jarvis ( the SAFC-supporting cocker spaniel)
Will the last team down the netty kindly pull the chain
One step forward , two steps back