Reason to be less than cheerful
Martin O’Neill could have put it an awful lot more strongly. Instead, in his post-match e-mail to Monsieur Salut, he chooses a mild form of rebuke for his players after an embarrassing capitulation to Bolton Wanderers – whose fans, mocked for their no-show at the Reebok, can also chortle at the size of the Stadium of Light attendance, just 17,500 – and rues a “bitterly disappointing” and meek end to those fanciful 40th anniversary dreams …
With Pete Sixsmith otherwise engaged on family matters, once again Supersub Robert Chapman steps up to the plate with his thoughts on the game at Bolton. It’s fair to say that he wouldn’t have been the only Sunderland fan in a good mood as kick off loomed, as the not unexpected news from Brighton got the afternoon off to a fine start. Certainly the BBC Newcastle team were in upbeat mood about the Black Cats’ cahances as the teams were announced but as Nick Barnes warned, potential banana skins await the overconfident.
And so it proved, as once again the Sunderland team put its supporters through the gamut of emotions with relief and renewed expectation of a 40th anniversary FA Cup run as the final whistle blew. Mind you had we known in advance the identity of our potential 4th round opponents there may have been a little less confidence. Still bogey teams are there to be beaten but first there’s still a tricky replay to negotiate.
It’s Bob Chapman on this week’s soapbox but Pete’s smiling anyway
For the first time in three games, Martin O’Neill had something to smile about at the final whistle. A decent second-half recovery saved the day after Bolton doubled their early lead. Sunderland live to fight on – we’ll know tomorrow what the reward would be if the replay saw us progressing to the next round …
The transfer window opens and two players leave the club with no replacements coming in. No doubt there are some lined up and we shall see some new names on the Sunderland roster but Martin O’Neill in his post-match e-mail to M Salut highlights the smallness of the squad and for once, has little to temper the disappointment of the result.
After two successive victories, Martin O’Neill had once again to find the positives in a home defeat in his personal e-mail to M Salut. With yet another re-shuffled defence, the ineligibility of Danny Rose saw Kilgallon who had played well at centre back being moved into the fullback spot, it may have been an easy option for the manager to find excuses, but he praises the team’s efforts and the backing of the crowd.
It was one of those games where I chewed my finger ends for the last half an hour or so. I couldn’t tell from my seat if Johnson’s shot had gone in and it was only as the South Stand roared we could be certain in the NW corner. At 1-0 up the tactic seems to be to defend deeper and deeper and City have the talent to break down any defence in front of goal. That said we had chances to put the game to bed but with Joe Hart coming forward for the injury time corners and Lescott brought on as an attacking option I feared the worst. But the Lads held on and oh how we celebrated. Then as the score came in from Old Trafford we celebrated some more.
Jake's imagination
For the second game in a row Martin O’Neill in his post-match e-mail to M Salut can praise the whole team and the home support.
A three all draw is always more satisfying when your team has recovered from three nil down than when it has thrown away a three goal lead. So it has been with the defeats against West Brom, Norwich and now Chelsea. The team’s performances in the latter stages of those games can be seen as causes for optimism. That’s certainly the spin the manager is putting on the outcome of those games, but once Pete Sixsmith has had time for objectivity to kick in he sees worryingly weak team performances achieving too little, too late.
