EFL League One

AFC Wimbledon Guess the Score: giantkillers at Sunderland after slaying West Ham

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Jake: ‘don’t let them think beating West Ham means owt’

Another game, another prize Guess the Score. Be first to be right, have a UK delivery address and – whoever you support – you will win the mug (a Wimbledon or neutral winner would be found something suitable).

We need to start winning again and we probably didn’t need Wimbledon to have a morale-boosting FA Cup victory over West Ham United.

But in a spirit of friendship, we hand over the rest of this edition of the competition to Gary Jordan*, one of several Wimbledon supporters who responded to a plea for help with the Who are You? interview.

Gary, covering NFL at Wembley

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Rate the Ref: And the worst by far is….

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MONSIEUR SALUT writes: the series has been an interesting exercise but will now be discontinued for the reasons set out below. Our thanks to Ken Gambles for the idea and Salut! Sunderland’s associate editor John McCormick for making it work

John McCormick writes: I have to include a warning right from the outset. Some of the judgements below are dodgier than even the dodgiest of McCormick’s dodgy numbers. The arithmetic’s correct, as always, and I removed the Accrington ratings because of the abandonment, but some games – away games especially – had low numbers of responses and that brings into question the reliability of our findings. For example, removing the one person who gave Craig Hicks (Scunthorpe Utd away) a Coote-like 1 would have increased the rating for that particular ref from 6.14 to 6.54.

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Sixer’s Scunthorpe Soapbox: Sunderland fail to flatter as Iron pressure pays

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Malcolm Dawson writes………tied up as I am in a hotel in Lytham St Anne’s (and before you get any ideas – not literally tied up – it’s not that sort of hotel!) with no commentary to listen to I was reduced to using a combination of the club website and the BBC’s for text updates from Glanford Park, which is not only frustrating but frankly boring. It’s not easy to get a feel for the game this way but the main points that came through were that we had more possession but that Scunthorpe had the only shots on target and that Jon McLaughlin had made a couple of brilliant saves. Eventually up flashed the image announcing a goal had been scored and I was relieved to see that it was Josh Maja’s name beside it. Just like when I’m at the game however, one goal is never enough to quell the anxiety and the little pessimistic trait that surfaces when we go 1-0 up niggled away but the minutes ticked and I began to think that maybe we would just hold on. But it wasn’t to be and as the countdown clock ticked down I was disappointed, but not surprised to see an equalising goal had been conceded. A crackerjack by all accounts but still means another two points dropped late on.

The usual statistic trotted out is that a win at home and a draw away (or an average of two points per game) will get you promoted. We have 53 from 27 so are just about on track so as fans we should be feeling good about things. I would have settled for that pre-season and in truth, whilst we have dropped no end of points in some games we have also gained points in others. Recently however, we seem to have just dropped them. A worrying trait? I wasn’t there yesterday so can’t comment. Pete Sixsmith was and will. Read on dear reader, read on.

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Sixer’s Scunthorpe Sevens: a good point but we need to find that poacher

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What do you make of a draw at Scunny? A point gained or two thrown away? Luton open a gap, Barnsley close one and Portsmouth falter, so it’s a bit mixed. On the whole, against a very in-form side I’m inclined to be optimistic but I wasn’t there.

Pete Sixsmith, who was, will give us his considered opinion tomorrow. For now we’ll have to make do with his seven word post-match text and the warning it contains:

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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Ground: Scunthorpe United and Glanford Park

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It’s over 100 years since E M Forster wrote “The Machine Stops”. If you haven’t read it I suggest you give it a go. After you have you won’t worry too much about the slight delay to the publication of this post in Pete Sixsmith’s “First Time ” series. You might, however, worry about the prevalence of the gremlins that stopped it reaching us.

“The Machine Stops”, by the way,  is recognised as a classic in the world of science fiction.  Pete Sixsmith, not quite as old, is recognised as a classic in the world of football writing. You know why:

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View from the Avenue: a Sunderland rallying cry to still half-term wobbles

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Paul Summerside hoping for calmer waters – and a new man on the bridge

Monsieur Salut says: Paul Summerside and I joust regularly at Facebook about Brexit, a subject I broadly feel wisest to avoid at Salut! Sunderland. But he confesses, as a man who more than anything shares the thought that politicians should sort out the wretched mess they created, that this week’s turmoil also prompted some reflection on how things are going at the Stadium of Light …

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Scunthorpe vs Sunderland Who are You?: ‘please don’t sing Garden Shed or Shearer song’

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Ian Moore, our Scunny interviewee, looks ready for action. Star Spanish midfielder Alex Calvo Garcia wears the white shirt

Monsieur Salut writes: Ian Moore* came our way thanks to Matt Blanchard from the Scunthorpe Iron-Bru fan site and podcast (Matt answered our questions in superb style before the first game, which Sunderland won 3-0). It’s another fine addition to the best Who are You? series I can recall in Salut! Sunderland‘s 12 years of existence. But I fear his plea to away supporters to think of something new rather than trotting out My Garden Shed will fall on deaf ears, especially when they find out Alan Shearer is among his sporting heroes (I made up the bit about our fans’ musical tribute to him) …

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Sixer’s Soapbox: Sunderland 1 Luton 1. Mazdas but no Maja

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Malcom Dawson wrote this introduction wthout seeing Pete Sixsmith’s match report:

Lee Probert’s performance will undoubtedly dominate the headlines and let’s face it he was shocking. Consistent but shockingly consistent. Even before the penalty and the sendings off he was subjected to chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” and “you’re not fit to referee”.

What’s more, he appeared to blow for fouls commited by Sunderland players, immediately after it seemed he had ignored a similar infringement committed by a man in blue. And this is allowing for my bias. The home crowd might be partisan but they aren’t stupid.

Bad refereeing apart, the other talking point was the absence of Josh Maja. As I am at the fag end of a dose of bronchitis, I am inclined to go along with the manager’s assertion that he was ill. I hope they told the representative of Crystal Palace who was supposed to be coming to watch him. The official reason won’t be enough to stop the rumour mongers, though personally I still think he’ll stay, at least until the end of the season.

More worrying for me though is our inability to push home an advantage, a defence that has its shaky moments and the number of occasions we give the ball away needlessly.

I said before the game that avoiding defeat wouldn’t be a disaster, especially if Portsmouth lost but I left yesterday’s game frustrated at a failure to consolidate our promotion push.

How was Pete Sixsmith feeling as he left the ground and how did he rate yesterday’s performance? Let him enlighten you.

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Rate the ref: Sunderland v Luton Town

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The 223 posts have been put in the spreadsheet. (Mr Probert didn’t score very well).

The poll has been removed as it’s being set up for the next game. Comments are below for you to read and add to:

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Sixer’s Sevens: Sunderland rue lack of killer finish as Luton are gifted a penalty

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Jake: ‘too many draws.’ Fans: ‘if Lee Probert’s a Premier ref [insert your own insulting conclusion].’

SAFC made a return to the Stadium of Light, Pete Sixsmith made a return to the Stadum of Light and Mick Harford made return to Sunderland while Josh Maja didn’t, because he was sick, we’re told. I reckon a few thousand others will have been sick – as a parrot – after an inexplicable penalty which led to one of Pete’s texts labelling the ref as inept. I wonder how that will affect his  score when ‘rate the ref’ opens in 15 minutes

Pete sent more texts during and after the game, one of them seven words long.  You’ll find it below. It suggests there is an issue Jack Ross need to address, with or without Josh Maja, before we can breathe more easily. Expect more from Pete is due course …

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