Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith had a great time in Weymouth, enjoying the lovely Dorset coast before the time came to venture with his travelling companion, Pete Horan, to Dean Court. Two down in eight minutes, our play an utter shambles, we seemed to be heading for the sort of result seen just under a year ago when M Salut met up with the two Petes before the Southampton massacre. ‘Outclassed by a sharper, fitter side,’ said Sixer at half time. ‘Finished 2-0 – in serious trouble now,’ came the final verdict; see his customary seven-worder below and begin fretting.
All week, it has been an almighty struggle to persuade anyone to read Salut! Sunderland, this after weeks of sky-high visitor figures and an encouraging if losing performance at home to Spurs. Maybe those disinclined to visit these pages knew something we didn’t, or something we didn’t want to admit. It got a lot better, but only very briefly, once Sunderland realised football can be a game between two sides, not one pitted against statues, and a wretched linesman’s decision robbed Jeremain Lens of a perfectly legitimate headed goal. But the fightback quickly petered out and with yellow cards scattered around by the never very SAFC-friendly Kevin Friend, it came as no surprise when Kaboul collected a second booking and saw red …
