So, we beat Birmingham 2-0 and advance, as we hoped we would, in the Carling Cup. Job done, but only to be celebrated properly if we also go on to claim the three obvious home points against Wolves on Sunday. Colin Randall offers some thoughts on low-key wins …
Two staples of the Salut! Sunderland Who are You? questionnaire, which we present to a fan of each team we next face in league or cup, are the Eduardo question – effectively “do you mind your team cheating?” – and the scoreline forecast.
Most fans of Premier teams will care relatively little how about how they got on tonight, assuming they were still in the Carling Cup. Look at the attendances (the fact that Sunderland got above 20,000 – just – was, in an odd sort of way since it’s really quite poor, a source of pride if only because it didn’t dip pathetically below 20,000) and at the teams the big clubs fielded. That tells you most of what you need to know.
But I care deeply about any game we play. I have written here and elsewhere about my belief that an end-of-season Sunderland match with nothing resting on the outcome is infinitely more important than any England tie. Sorry!
Once, as I may also have said, I saw the juxtaposition of wife being away and the reserves finding themselves within one win of the championship as a good reason for travelling from London to York for the last game of the season.
Only when I checked train times and found there were none (at least, there were none to get me back on the same date) did I come to my senses. The point? I wouldn’t cross the street for an England World Cup qualifier, except with a free ticket. But I’d at least consider that for Sunderland.
I sometimes envy fans who suppport teams that almost never lose. That’s not for us, and it probably won’t be ever. But listening to the radio, receiving texts from the Stadium of Light and seeing the e-mails of electronic friends on the Blackcats list, I couldn’t help wondering how nice it might be always to tune in, midway through any game, and find us two-nil up.