After 2,000 Mackems silence Arsenal, Salut! is en fête. What now, Newcastle?

Jake says "Where's me pipe and slippers?"
Jake says “Where’s me pipe and slippers?”

There’s a spring in our collective step after a stirring, gutsy display won us the point we needed and deserved. This was a night when we all wanted to be in north London to share the joy of the 2,000 souls who made it. At least I had the best, clearest internet stream I can remember in my Sky-free French bunker.

It was a magnificent team performance, Costel Pantilimon obliging those of us who had called for a man-of-the-match performance, John O’Shea playing a captain’s game with Seb Coates solid at his side, Billy Jones and Patrick van Aanholt contributing great shifts and Seb and Catts monumental in defensive midfield.

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Advochaat on Crystal Palace nightmare: how close does ‘very disappointing’ get?

Dick Advocaat, by Jake
Dick Advocaat, by Jake

To be fair, Dick Advocaat also admitted in his post-match e-mail to Monsieur Salut, most of the 40,000+ Sunderland fans there at kickoff and, I’m sure, the few hardy souls left at the end, that there could be no complaints. It was an utterly wretched non-performance, one to make us feel a trace of guilt at the possibility of others failing, too, and keeping us up …

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