EFL League 1

Sixer’s Sevens: Fleetwood Town make their point

by

This going behind early’s getting to be a bit of an issue but at least we can come back from it this season, which is just as well. The bigger question is – will we do better as our injuries abate and players get fully up to speed?  We’re still unbeaten and in the top 4 but I’d like to see us keeping clean sheets and popping in a few more goals.  On paper, the teams we’re putting out look capable enough of winning but on the pitch maybe they are just not quite there yet.

I imagine the 29,000 spectators who were at the Stadium of Light this afternoon will be harbouring similar thoughts. Pete Sixsmith  was one of them and we’ll  know for sure what he thinks when he sends us his match report tomorrow. As a taster here’s the seven word text he sent as the final whistle blew:

Read more

Sixers Sevens: Oxford United fight us to a draw

by

After 16 minutes of play came a text from Pete Sixsmith: “1 down from a free kick. Second best at the moment”.

Three minutes later came a second: “Power sent off for a ridiculous challenge”.  A minute or two later we got our third yellow of the game.

And then my internet connection went down.

It was Pete who kept me in touch, first a text with the single word: “Wyke”, which gave me hope, and then with a final seven words which summed up the game. You can read them below and return tomorrow for his take on a game that is bound to provoke discussion

Read more

Sunderland vs Oxford prize Guess the Score; who will win the ‘Donald derby’?

by

Pete Sixsmith is back home after his southern travels, taking in assorted games and lots of culture between Gillingham and south-west London. He’ll be at the match on Saturday and you’ll be able to read his instant post-game verdict as soon as the whistle blows. After that you can revisit the site on Sunday for his match report.

But what will Pete be reporting on after what one SAFC wag has called the “Donald derby” in honour of our owner’s lifelong support for Oxford United? A win? A loss? (surely not). Or a draw? If you think you know here’s a chance to put that knowledge to good use, and if you don’t know here’s a chance to make an informed guess.

Or you could just speculate like the rest of us, even if it does make you blind like they told us at school.

Read more

Coventry are base as Peterborough join Charlton, Barnsley and Portsmouth (and SAFC) on our watch list

by

There should have been an update to this series (see the archive links below for the earlier posts) at the start of the season but I travelled up early for the Charlton game, spending the Friday in Leeds before driving on to the North-East, then when I got back home I did a match report to complement Pete Sixsmith’s and didn’t have time for anything else.

This was followed by five games in two weeks, with no space to fit anything in, and here we are.

This means my last post in the series was the one that explained the role of Coventry City‘s fans in propelling their club up and Sunderland down in our poll and asked who should be the sixth team to join Coventry, Sunderland, Charlton, Barnsley and Portsmouth in our  deliberations. Peterborough was the very clear preference from the four choices offered; they got more votes than the other three clubs (Southend, Plymouth and Luton) combined.

Those six will be the ones we start with, and I can’t imagine it changing before Christmas.

Read more

Sixer’s Wimbledon Sevens: Cattermole tidies up Wimbledon come-on

by

Listening to Barnes and Benno it sounded as if we were under the cosh a bit in the first 45 being forced into playing a long ball game by the Dons and the half time scoreline sounded fair enough. Pete Sixsmith was one of the 727 Sunderland fans officially in the crowd and his half time text read “bigger, better and stronger at the moment” referring unfortunately to the home side rather than ourselves. Could Jack Ross continue to impress with a halftime reassessment and reshuffle of his squad, still lacking the option of a big physical centre forward. 

Well it definitely sounded as if we came into it more during the second half and although Wimbledon had further chances to score it was the rejuvenated Lee Cattermole who found the net not once but twice prompting our man at the match to message “bloody hell – he’s done it again!” when we took the lead. 

One thing we can say about the season so far is that it certainly hasn’t been boring. Pete’s full match report will be with us tomorrow but for now we make do with his instant 7 word summary sent as the final whistle sounded!

Read more

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Ground: AFC Wimbledon and Kingsmeadow

by

John McCormick writes: I have visited Kingston-upon-Thames. It was within a couple of years of our Wembley triumph (the second one) and I can’t remember much about it, though I’m sure it certainly never struck me as a place that would host a professional football club.

But what do I know about football?

Clearly it’s not as much as Pete Sixsmith

Read more

Sixer’s Gillingham Sevens: a Sunderland romp in Kent

by

Monsieur Salut says: for once in my life, I hardly blinked when an opposing side, Gillingham, took an early lead. I just knew we’d bounce back and almost from the re-start, that’s what we did. In what seems to have been a splendid first-half attacking display, Sunderland proceeded to go 3-1 up, Josh Maja adding a fourth in the second half. From Barnes and Benno, I gathered that we rode our luck on occasion but deserved the victory because we took our chances and Gillingham didn’t. ‘Job done,’ they agreed …

Pete Sixsmith was there, enjoying his first visit to Kent for a game involving SAFC, so it’s his seven-word verdict you see below. He’ll find dozens of non-league games to take in before the Wimbledon game on Saturday but this is as good a start as he could have imagined to his travels down south …

Read more

Sixer’s Sevens: Scunthorpe United ironed out in the first 45

by

I can’t remember the last time I put in a (3)-(0) to signify the half time scoreline when setting up for Pete Sixsmith’s post-game text. From what I read on the all too infrequent comments coming up on the SAFC website that score was well deserved and the final score could have been more. But 3-0 it remained. What happened in the second 45? I suspect more of the same but who knows, other than Pete and 29,000 other lucky souls.

We’ll have to wait for Pete’s match report to see if it really was a game of two halves. For now, here’s his instant seven-word summary:

(Update – now published here.)

Read more