The rollover Guess the Score competition for Sunderland vs Arsenal was won by our resident harbinger of doom, Bill Cowell.
The man will soon run out of space for all his prize mugs. Two more are on their way from Personalised Football Gifts, to be preceded or followed by a carefully packed box of After Eight mint chocs, for which Pete Sixsmith dug deep into his pockets to stump up the purchase price, Nestlé having been too humourless to do so itself.
Cabral’s acquisition was one even Paolo Di Canio was thrilled by. A player of Champions League pedigree, he played well when given early spells of action but was abruptly dropped. Then he may as well have disappeared from Wearside, never to return. Now, Gus Poyet has made some utterly mystifying comments of his own without getting close to explaining why Cabral cannot get into a team he claims to have to pick from threadbare resources. Can Pete Sixsmith get to the bottom of it? …
Last Wednesday I went to the Everyman theatre to see Bright Phoenix, a play about a group of misfit kids who become misfit adults. With an Everyman play like that I didn’t know what to expect. Whatever I thought, it wasn’t what I got …
Never let anyone tell you women’s football lacks the passion of the men’s game.
Just take a look at the stream of messages and photographs at Twitter and elsewhere marking the fabulous achievement of SAFC Ladies in taking the Women’s Super League 2 title at the first attempt, having previously and unpardonably been excluded when the WSL was formed.
Monsieur Salut says: it is said few people witnessing the same event, be it a car crash or a football game, see it quite the same way. For the definitive assessment, go to deputy editor Malcolm Dawson’s report. I felt Jack Rodwell, Seb Larsson and Adam Johnson had reasonable games – no more than that, though – and that it was an error on Gus Poyet’s part to substitute the first and third of those. Young Keir Bradwell agreed with me on Johnson and Rodwell but was harsher on Larsson, where he found common cause with a new guest contributor, Simon Ramsey. Against the more common view, Simon found kind words for Will Buckley. A home and away fan for 30 years and a regular supporter of Salut! Sunderland at Twitter, Simon offers his thoughts here for the first time …
Monsieur Salut writes: Keir Bradwell‘s “after Len Shackleton” device for his ratings from Southampton – a blank page – divided opinion. This week normal business is restored. I would not quarrel with most of it, save that Larsson’s industry merited a high mark and Wickham was, in truth, no better served than Fletcher …
Congratulations to SAFC Ladies who clinched the title and promotion with their 4-0 demolition of the Millwall Lionesses. * Check …
Malcolm Dawson writes……..Peter Sixsmith is a frequent visitor to the National Stadium at Wembley. Usually it’s to watch a Rugby …
Malcolm Dawson writes…..it’s part of the manager’s job to be upbeat and seek out the positives. He couldn’t quite do that last week but is back in the groove after two of the most schoolboyish of errors cost the team a point and bit more composure should have seen the Gunners punished for their own keeper’s howler. Were there any positives? Gus thinks so as his post match e-mail explains. You’ll get my views tomorrow as I fill in on Pete Sixsmith’s soapbox.
Pete Sixsmith went to the Potteries to watch the other SAFC – Shildon in the FA Cup. One more win and they are in the first round proper. I’m bet he’s glad he did as the Railwaymen drew with higher league opposition to bring Norton back to Dean Street. So it’s substitute Malcolm Dawson who steps up to the plate with his seven word summary of today’s performance.