Colin Randall 
At half time Pete Sixsmith sent a text to tell us that the pre-match beer was better than the football. I don’t think the second half was much of an improvement but I won’t definitely know until tomorrow, when I read Pete’s post-match report. However, some late changes by our manager saw us get vital goals, which gave us vital points, which moved us off the bottom and sparked a celebration, as Pete’s instant seven-word text explains:
Monsieur Salut, locked into a West End cinema after the Oxford Circus ‘incident’, writes: at my great age, the threat …
John McCormick writes Burton is one of those places you’re not likely to visit by accident if you live in Liverpool. It’s in between everywhere – to the east and north of the M6 and A5, to the south of the road between Stoke, Derby and Nottingham. It is, just about, on the way from here to Leicester but that’s no good if you’re a Sunderland fan travelling down the M1, which tells you how long it is since I’ve been to Filbert Street.
All this is a great pity, as I’ve always wanted to call in and have a pint at the spiritual home of brewing and I’ve never managed it. Pete Sixsmith has of course, and here he is to tell you all about it.
Dave Child* is a fan of the old school. Burton Albion through and through – ‘who are Derby County?’, he asks when pressed on the competing attractions of other local teams – he was among the 11,000 travelling fans who made Old Trafford less of a library than usual for a cup replay. And he’s an epxert on the pies served at football grounds and hostelries that welcome away fans (if you;’re going, scroll down to see which one Dave thinks you’d enjoy).
And what was he doing with Paolo Di Canio? Interviewing him for local radio when PDC was Swindon manager and they played Burton…
Salut! Sunderland: stuck with us in the relegation zone, Burton would probably be expected to struggle even if neutrals would love them to survive. How is it looking for you?
Dave Child: yes we are in our usual position and not really surprised, the aim as we head towards the festive fixtures is to stay out of the bottom three, then come January Cloughie can work his miracles in the loan market bringing in Gareth Bale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and make a late charge for the play offs!
Just look at the home and away table. Two wins, a draw and six defeats at home, nine goals scored but 21 shipped.
What a catastrophic home record for any professional football side.
How could any away team and its wonderful support go to the Pirelli Stadium, capacity all of 6,912, without a spring in the step? Sadly the away side at Burton on Saturday is us, our home record makes theirs look quite respectable and we haven’t a clue where the next win is coming from.
Chris Coleman is unlikely to see this at all and, should he accidentally find himself at this page, still less likely to feel any need to heed Pete Sixsmith‘s advice, sound as it is.
But who would bet against the new manager reaching pretty much the same conclusions at our Sixer, who certainly reads the game of football as well as some of our past 11 managers (which takes us back only as far as Niall Quinn). Pete was at Villa Park. He saw what he saw, not a bad performance but one lacking midfield strength and punch against barely impressive opposition. It is pointless to talk about Burton on Saturday being a must-win game since we rarely win anything billed as such, but the thought will have crossed other minds …
Monsieur Salut writes: had I been able to make it – up for me, from London – for Chris Coleman’s first game in charge, I would have met up with not only Peter Sixsmith but Rob Hutchison and his daughter Olivia, all three familiar figures around these parts. My apologies for absence reached the Hutchisons as they – also heading north from exile – drove towards Birmingham.
At one down, as the second half started, Rob thought there was so little between the sides that Sunderland could go on and win if only they could first equalise. Cue a second Villa goal.
Here, then, is one of those Hutch specialities, Rob’s one-word man-by-man verdict (he described the whole experience as ‘drab, drab, drab; oh, it was so drab’ and will one day explain why Gibson was ‘crablike’) …
Pete Sixsmith saw Chris Coleman’s managership start in painfully familiar fashion, yet another bright start undone by yet another piece of sloppy defending. The upshot: the simplest of conceded goals for Villa’s Adomah, albeit after the ref arguably ignored a foul on Matthews that started the move. Ten minutes gone, one down. Had Robbin Ruiter, so fortunate to keep his place after handing Millwall two early Christmas presents on Saturday, even seen the ball up to then? ‘Goalkeeper suspect again,’ muttered Sixer. Gary Bennett praised the shape – 4-1-4-1 – and the buildup but was worried about the final pass, the final shot and the failure to cover at the back. Sixer bemoaned our lack of physicality.
All the above was written before half time. The second had barely begun before another Villa -mah (Onomah this time) made it two, his shot massively deflected by Browning. There seemed no way back. Lax defending, lack of finesse and a spot of misfortune: Coleman was perhaps seeing our season so far encapsulated in one more losing game.
Then he saw how important Lewis Grabban is to our modest hopes when the striker on loan from Bournemouth snatched one back. We prayed for that flash of skill or touch of luck that might save the game. It didn’t come.
Sixer saw glimmers of hope. Come back for his considered view but read on for his instant seven-word verdict …
Beyond blind faith, a commodity in large if diminishing supply among Sunderland supporters, perhaps the main source of hope for an unexpected victory at Villa Park is the power of new manager bounce.
But what a fillip it would give to the demoralised faithful to be able, for only the second time this season, to celebrate the final whistle rather than be left ruing missed chances and the inability to defend or even obtain a lead.
Even a draw at promotion-chasing Villa, denying bragging rights to Steve Bruce, as beastly a bête noire to Sunderland fans as they come, would be encouraging and – with a visit to lowly Burton Albion next up – give new complexion to match previews for this weekend.
Will Sunderland return to the tradition of the post-match manager’s e-mail under Chris Coleman? If so, will his first be to salute a debut rather more impressive than the last author of such missives, David Moyes, managed with West Ham?
Pete Sixsmith has already promised never again to use mustard puns in relation to our new boss. So if we do start receiving, and publishing, Coleman’s thoughts, however massaged by press office staff, that rule will extend to the title of the feature.