SAFC 1 Man City 1: early thoughts


Come back for Pete Sixsmith’s more considered view from the East Stand. This is how it seemed based on a mixture of radio commentary and Sky …

Craig Gordon, John Mensah and, until forced off by injury at half time, Kenwyne Jones did not deserve to be in a non-winning team.

In the end the relentless pressure of Man City may have made a draw a fair result, though we were better in the first half and might have had a two-goal cushion to show for it.

But how close Gordon’s outstanding second-half goalkeeping, surely his best performance in a Sunderland shirt, and Mensah’s towering efforts throughout came to securing victory.

I said I would settle for a draw provided we beat Birningham City in a week’s time. So I refuse to look on the lost two points today as a defeat and at last begin to view the remainder of the season with a little confidence.

One question: was it a “wonder goal” by Adam Johnson that brought the stoppage time equaliser? Or was it a fluky cross that should have been headed off the line?


Colin Randall

4 thoughts on “SAFC 1 Man City 1: early thoughts”

  1. Seriously proud of the Lads watching live on Sky at home next to Lakeside (Essex). There wasn’t a single weakness apart from Campbells final touches (poor passes/weak shots) but boy did he try! Can you compare Mensah with Nozantium?? Not at all – this is how far we’ve come and it’s about time we had the points to show for it. If there is a God – and St Niall should know – surely he will reward honest endeavour…..
    Off the top of my head, I can’t remember how many/few yellows we got – but work this one out, the hardest battling performance of the season was possibly one of our ‘cleanest’. Cana and Catts take note. It is possible, I believe, to be highly competitive and very aggressive without persistently fouling and getting carded resulting in regular loss of possession and highly damaging suspensions.
    Gordon is a master at adopting the optimum body shape when trying to block a forward rushing at his goal.
    At last, I seem to have a couple of family free Saturdays coming up and look forward to watching us at the SoL against either Brum or Spurs with some confidence.

  2. The performance against City was our best this season, after the well discussed bad run we seemed to ouse confidence we attacked and put their back 4 under pressure, Malbranque made Barry and Richards look ordinary and Jones made Lescott appear amature. We made chances and didn’t convert them and half time was a relief to City. The 2nd half was different without Jones and replacing Malbranque seem bizzare but we matched them it wasn’t the one way traffic of the 1st half but we gave as good as we got, the spirit and commitment was outstanding. Did we look like a team fighting relagation? No. Cana and Cattermole will have to fight to get into this team and if Jones is out Benjani would seem a good replacement. A New Dawn. YES YES YES

  3. Thought Johnson took his goal well. Henderson tried hard to keep it out but whenever we go into added time I still expect us not to win if we aren’t at least two up.

    Jones looked good when he was on. Malbranque had another good game but in the second half, the hoof it up field tactic, meant we were always on the back foot. A bit more composure, a little less panic would surely help relieve the pressure on the back line.

    But in the end City were worth their point.

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