Malcolm Dawson writes……..David Corner came out to do the half time draw and I said to the bloke behind me how it must be galling to be remembered by many for one moment of indecisiveness, one error of judgement. I was reminded of David Corner on Saturday when PvA’s failure to hit row Z cost us a point. It must be especially galling when there was a missed penalty in that same match but few talk about that as the moment that cost us a trophy.
So at the end of the season will we talk about van Aanholt’s error against West Ham and forget about Jermain Defoe’s missed opportunities. If we stay up this season will we look back at Fabio Borini’s fantastic strike as a moment that saved us from going down or will we see this match as two points dropped that cost us Premier League survival? This was a case of quiet optimism at half time after a reasonable first 45 but resignation in the second that here was another missed opportunity. Those two young lads who sit alongside me learned a real football lesson today. Never leave before the end no matter how down you might be. There will always be the possibility of a twist in the tail. And so it proved today.
If we do go down then I’ll think how bad we were against Norwich, especially if they finish a point or two above us. This evening we showed flashes but also defensive frailties that have been there all season and which Sam is supposed to be sorting out. Can we get out of this mess with Defoe ploughing a lone furrow up front? Not in my view but it’s the manager’s that counts. Here’s how he saw the Palace game in his post match e-mail to M Salut and a few other red and white stalwarts.
Jake’s take on Big Sam SUNDERLAND 2 CRYSTAL PALACE 2
Jake: ‘look closely and you’ll see he can write more than one word a sentence!’
When does a draw feel like a defeat? Tonight, says Rob Hutchison</em>. ‘Yet we’re out of the bottom three for now. Feels like water slowly draining out of the bathtub, or death by a thousand cuts.’ Compare and contrast: Rob and Monsieur Salut, in his piece that will appear later at ESPN [now viewable at http://www.espnfc.com/club/sunderland/366/blog/post/2819708/deandre-yedlin-gives-finest-sunderland-display-vs-palace], broadly agreed on the man-by-man ratings, including a low-marking MOTM award for Yedlin …
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Big Sam told BT Sport’s Football Tonight show he’d celebrate Sunderland survival with ‘a very nice holiday in Spain and a few bottles of champagne’. We can safely assume he can afford champagne that will keep in the cellar until promotion next year. This was a game we knew we had to win; the scraped draw makes it a lot less likely we’ll be celebrating come May.
On the basis of a grim second-half performance that allowed Connor Wickham to do what he rarely did for us, score twice or at all, we were lucky to grab even a point. Fabio Borini’s equaliser came from nothing. It was a fabulous strike, speculative or not, with time running out. But unless we surprise everyone by producing a mightier team performance than this at Southampton, it’s looking bleak. Pete Sixsmith, excellent on BBC Radio Newcastle in the pre-match buildup, will be back with more; this is his seven-word instant verdict … Pete Sixsmith
Jake: ‘one point nee good – inevitable that Wickham would come and do that’
Pete Sixsmith: one of 300 hardy souls watching the Under 21s
Staying in is for wimps, at least when there’s a competitive football match to see. Pete Sixmsith took in the Under 21s, hosting Leicester City with a debut for the experience but currently unattached trialist Emmanuel Eboué. the Ivoiran right-back did OK until subbed but Sixer witnessed just the kind of result we do not want repeated tonight …
Dominic Brown with his dad at Wembley for the 2013 Playoff Final.
We heard from Mick Brown, a terrific features writer of Monsieur Salut’s acquaintance, two years ago and now it’s the turn of his son Dominic Brown*, a fellow Palace fan and also a writer as well as an independent filmmaker – latest documentary Forgotten Bird of Paradise – and human rights campaigner. Some things are even more important than football …
John McCormick writes: What do Jordi Gomez, Connor Wickham, Craig Gardner, Stephane Sessegnon and Patrick van Aanholt have in common? The answer is that they all scored or created goals on Saturday.
It doesn’t matter what League we’re in next season, we have to get rid of Patrick. He goes absent more often than Huyton’s schoolkids on a Friday. At least, that’s what I think, but what do I know about football? For a more informed opinion I’ll hand you over to Pete Sixsmith. Let’s see if he agrees:
