Paul Summerside senses a season-defining game just ahead
So after tonight’s win at Carlisle in the Carabao Cup, is Paul Summerside chuffed to bits, mildly encouraged or part of a jury that’s still out? Where he stands will be hugely influenced by what happens at Barnsley on Saturday …
Beating Carlisle in the league cup, or what is now correctly called the Caraboa Cup (what, you may ask but I looked it up and they produce ‘energy drinks’), has a sting in the tail. We did our bit, winning 2-1. But you have to get up at some idiotic hour on Thursday morning to find out who Sunderland will play in the third round.
The second round took us to Brunton Park, where supporters of both sides joined in one minute of applause for Bill Green, the Newcastle-born former captain of Carlisle United and scorer of their first goal in the 2-0 win at Chelsea that was followed by two more victories putting them briefly top of the First Division (sad to relate, they went down in bottom place!).
Pete Sixsmith drove west for this one. He was not greatly impressed, spotting more missed chances for Carlisle than us and feeling Lynden Gooch’s winner – a finish he described as ‘classy’, to Gooch’s delight (he ‘liked’ the relevant tweet) – effectively ‘got us out of the s***’.
William Sundin, a media production graduate from Sunderland University (though strongly suspected of being an Ipswich supporter) takes another clinical look at SAFC’s fascinatingly complex fortunes and echoes the thoughts of a certain Sunderland hero that the defeat to Leeds exposed our limitations …
Sunderland have enjoyed a reasonably solid start to the Championship campaign though the rigours of playing with a limited squad appeared to catch up with them against Leeds.
Simon Grayson’s men were unbeaten heading into the match at the Stadium of Light. However, goals from Samuel Saiz and Stuart Dallas condemned Sunderland to their first defeat of the league progromme.
Brunton Park is the latest stop in Pete Sixsmith‘s series* looking at his own earliest experiences of the teams Sunderland play and the grounds they call or called home. Carlise United can claim a fascinating club history, the remoteness of its location making gloryseeking support for bigger clubs less of a problem than elsewhere. Sixer’s introduction to the ground coincided with the appearance of a Sunderland hero but not a Sunderland team …
Brunton Park is one of the few grounds that I first went to without seeing Sunderland – although there was a Sunderland connection and that connection was the great Charlie Hurley.
Colin Randall writes: our Carlisle United interviewee Mike Booth, a moderator at the Carlisle fans’ forum thecumbrians.net, says most people have a soft spot for Sunderland because watching Newcastle struggle – he’ll have enjoyed their first two results – is such fun. I only just suppressed the temptation to make that the headline.
Mike is too young to remember Carlisle’s season of glory, promoted to the top flight and top of the league after three games (but relegated all the same), but says people still talk about it …
Salut! Sunderland: What were your thoughts when you came out of the hat against us – ‘that’s a great draw ‘ or ‘not them again’?
Mike Booth: yeah I thought it was a good draw. Potential for a good crowd, and I’ve seen Sunderland have quite a few games in a short space of time, so this game might be seen as one where they can rest a few players, which could potentially lead to an upset.
Monsieur Salut confesses: thank heavens no one went for Sunderland 0-2 Leeds. There are quite enough people who could tell you I already owe them mugs. They will come, I promise.
Pete Sixsmith had almost forgotten what it was like to have to churn out, week after week, doom-laden masterpieces combining gallows humour and sharp footballing analysis. It had been relatively upbeat so far, a tolerable pre-season followed by a decent start in league and cup. The visit of Leeds United changed all that. So were we put in our place, ominously so? Or is it just a case of getting back to the drawing board as things will work out fine? Read on …
The thump as we fell to earth was a resounding one and could be heard all over Wearside. After a good start to our (hopefully short) life in the Championship, we came up against the first really well organised side that we have played this season and ended up distinctly second best.
Pete Sixsmith (before the fierce slimming regime began)
Monsieur Salut writes: in his latest addition to this hugely entertaining series recalling his first encounters with opposing teams or – for away games – their grounds, Pete Sixsmith begins with a confession.
But do not be fooled by his Leeds origins. Sixer moved to County Durham – just up the street from me – as a boy and soon became a Sunderland supporter. While successive SAFC teams, managers and owners have sorely tried his patience over the past half-century, he has remained passionate throughout (save for one season-long sulk after the first of Peter Reid’s relegations). And the only Leeds team he likes are the Rhinos.
But as Sunderland prepare to engage once again with old footballing foes, Sixer looks back on his roots ……
Unfortunately, it never came and I, for one, was worried by the arrival of Stephen Fletcher in the second half, because I’ve seen him at his best and ex-players do well against us. He did do OK. But how OK, and did he and Kieran Westood stop us getting that win? Pete’s match report will tell you all you need to know:
Colin Randall 
