Soapbox: on Kenwyne, Ryan and a chilly night at Hetton

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Hard as nails. That’s Salut! Sunderland’s star writer Pete Sixsmith. Viewed from afar, the North East looked as if cut off from the rest of the world by snow drifts. That must have been a picture of Tow Law. But it was cold enough as Pete saw Sunderland Reserves take on Wigan. Hadn’t we seen as much of Wigan as we’d want for a while? …

Tuesday night and outside it’s cold and the wind is blowing. Inside, the heating is on, the gas fire warms the room, there’s a welcoming bottle of Macallan open and a good book on the coffee table. So, what do you do but dig out the thermals and woolly socks, put on a warm coat and head for a reserve game at Hetton?

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More tributes to Dave Lish


Many Salut! Sunderland
readers have seen Pete Sixsmith’s warm tribute to Dave Lish, the SAFC fan who died suddenly on Nov 22.

Dave and Pete were chatting as usual at the Arsenal game the day before, when there was nothing to suggest Dave was other than in good shape and excellent spirits.

Following our obituary, a lot of other people have now added their own thoughts on Dave and these deserve to be repeated.

In particular, mention at Ready to Go of what Pete wrote has prompted a few more to offer sympathy and homage.

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Soapbox: Dave Lish RIP – an affectionate farewell to a good man

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Just before Saturday’s rousing win over Arsenal, I spotted Pete Sixsmith in his usual 20-minutes-before-kickoff spot in the East Stand concourse, chatting animatedly to another Sunderland fan. That other fan was about to see the last game of his life. Only in his early 50s, he died next day. Pete pays tribute to Dave Lish …

We all agree, I think, that Saturday was as good a game as we have seen at the Stadium for a long time. At half time, on my return from the toilet, I spoke with Dave Lish and we both agreed that we had a good chance of winning this one. As we returned to our seats, we agreed to meet at Sunderland RCA for their game with Shildon on Wednesday night.

Alas, this is not to be, as Dave suddenly and tragically passed away on Sunday. I had known him for a number of years, bumping into him on the non league circuit. As the relationship changed from acquaintance to friend, I always looked for his Corsa (R99 KER), knowing that his presence would always mean an entertaining and enjoyable evening even if the football was dire.

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