Do they mean us? How Sunderland fans shocked a Bristol Rovers Gashead

Monsieur Salut writes: you might struggle to believe it but Doug Shields, a Bristol Rovers diehard, did an excellent and amusing Who are You? interview here before the game at the SoL. This offering also has its entertaining moments.

But he doesn’t seem to have enjoyed his brief acquaintance with our fans the other night.

A lot of what follows is about food and I do wonder whether sour grapes might have crept into Doug’s dietary programme.

Or perhaps all Gasheads are gentle, indeed genteel souls whose idea of letting their hair down is to have two sweet sherries, not one, to wash down their crustless cucumber sandwiches while mistaking ‘Ha’way’, meaning come on, for ‘away’. Little wonder us ruffians from the north seemed so uncouth. Let Doug, a self-confessed lager drinker, take up the story …

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Sunderland’s win at Bristol Rovers is also a win down Mexico way

. This is a beauty but click on the image to view all Art of Football’s Sunderland-related treasures

As we all now know, the Checkatrade Trophy has assumed an importance the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carabao can but envy. The semi-final win at Bristol Rovers, courtesy of Will Grigg’s first goal for Sunderland from open play and a second from Lewis Morgan, leaves us Wembley bound.

There is still much work to do in the league as we strive to take a top-two position. But for now, we can savour the moment and look forward to the March 31 final against Portsmouth. Two grand old clubs at Wembley = a sell-out crowd and a memorable occasion. More from Pete Sixsmith and/or Malcolm Dawson, both present at the Memorial Ground, will follow in due course but may have to await their return from the West Country. So let’s deal with other business …

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Sixer’s Checkatrade Seven: Singin’ in the rain at Bristol Rovers

John McCormick writes: I thought we never looked like losing, and I like the way this club is shaping up for the end of the season. That doesn’t mean anything’s done and dusted yet, but as Pete Sixsmith’s post game seven word text makes clear, we have at least one pleasant diversion  to look forward to as well as a growing sense of belief

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The North Eastern Programme Club: when home and away means Plymouth to Sunderland

All Sixer’s own work – whatever it says about who wrote it

Monsieur Salut writes: for those who bought the matchday programme on Saturday, it is worth pointing out that the article attributed to me was in fact the work of Pete Sixsmith. He was reflecting on the distances that have to be covered by supporters wishing to attend away games, obviously a topic of interest to the impressive bunch of Argyle fans who made the trek to Sunderland …

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Sixer’s Soapbox: Plymouth Argyle repulsed as Sunderland press on

Pete Sixsmith in green

John McCormick writes: A joint effort brings this to you on a fine morning. Fine not because of the weather, which is a bit iffy, but because we have just won our third in a row and have a semi-final in a couple of days. Malcolm did the proof-reading and uploaded the text, leaving the final layout for me.

Pete Sixsmith, of course, did the hard bit.

And didn’t he do it well….

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