Stephen Goldsmithwrites: It can be a cruel game this football carry on. Not only did chicken dancing, Sunderland slaying Kevin …
Stephen Goldsmith writes: I was really tempted to pick some obscure and irrelevant fixture in addition to the lads at …
Stephen Goldsmith writes: I received an e-mail from Luke apologising for his no entry into the predictions last week. He …
Stephen Goldsmith writes: at the time of writing, I had no human e-mail response from Luke this week. As there was some sort of automated nonsense with the word ‘vacation’ in it, I’m guessing he may be on holiday so hasn’t read my initial one to reply to …
Stephen Goldsmith made a rod for his own back when he devised a Predictions League. Bright idea but these things have a habit of needing to be maintained. He’ll learn. In the meantime, here’s how last weekend’s three selected games affected the table …
Every so often, we are reminded that there is more to supporting Newcastle United than nurturing extraordinary delusions of grandeur or helping Mike Ashley provide highly paid employment for recovering criminals. There is also a deep sense of history, as shown by Michael Hudson*, the thoughtful Mag behind the excellent blog on non-league football Accidental Groundhopper, in these reflections on what he judges to have been the first Tyne-Weart derby, back in 1644.
It started with coal. In north-east England, everything started with coal.
The produce of the Northumbrian coalfield had been shipped from Newcastle since the middle of the 13th century, around the time the city’s mayor, Nicholas Scott, was leading a group of armed merchants in setting fire to the rival port of North Shields (an attempted historical re-enactment by residents of the Meadowell Estate went slightly awry in 1991).
“Thank goodness that’s over” says Pete Sixsmith as we scrape a point against a far better Newcastle side. Talk of getting out of jail, fat ladies singing and clutching at straws dominate these observations on a bitterly disappointing derby performance. We need to do better next year !!!!
At 13:48, with the clock running down, I sent my Seven winging across the seas to M. Salut in Penang. “Once again found lacking when it mattered” were my words as we huffed and puffed against a side who were threatening to score a second, and take a deserved three points home with them.
For the umpteenth time we pushed forward with effort rather than skill. The ball dropped to Bardsley who whipped in a shot, Harper parried it and Asamoah Gyan poked it over the line to level the scores.
Wild celebrations from those around me; much jumping about and a feeling that we had not only got out of jail, but that we had kidnapped all the Prison Officers, burnt the place down and reformed the entire criminal justice system. The Fat Lady (or middle aged Man in this case) was singing his head off at this one. Games last for 90 minutes!!!
Quite frankly, we were awful. Whatever weaknesses we had seen against Blackpool and Notts. County were magnified 100x in this scrappy, bitty and, for us, ultimately disappointing derby.
It’s often said that being a Sunderland supporter is never dull. Just when we might have thought we were heading for a straightforward, mid-table finish, we have the low of Newcastle followed by the high of Chelsea. Luke Harvey reflects on an amazing fortnight, and applauds our players’ resilience in bouncing back.
I could write reams and reams on my emotions and thoughts after the amazing destruction of league leaders Chelsea. None would truly convey all my feelings and none would be as good as Sixer’s succinct seven word round up, but the victory over Chelsea is easily as amazing as the Newcastle result was terrible.
The focus and commitment from the team was second to none. From beginning to end we looked in control of the situation, and even with a slender 1-0 lead Chelsea never looked like mounting a serious comeback – although I didn’t rule out the possibility until Welbeck made it three.
As already said elsewhere on this site: we were magnificent from front to back – and all without our talisman Darren Bent, proving we weren’t just a one-man team. With results since the Newcastle debacle looking very promising, it seems like Gyan and Welbeck have quickly formed an understanding up front – although surely Bent’s place in the team won’t be in jeopardy when fit.
While the £13m Ghanaian may be taking most of the plaudits up front – although I’m unsure where I stand on his dancing skills (I won’t complain to seeing them a few more times this season) – the rest of the team are deserving of equal praise.
Ken Waugh*, who runs the Talk of the Tyne fan site, has been unwell, my hand’s been dodgy after an op but we’ve patched together one last derby preview, Ken answering the same questions put to Keith Topping the other day …
See also: Keith Topping on the Toon/Wear divide: Harmless banter or poisoned hatred?
Salut! Sunderland:
Welcome back. I mean it – despite our rivalries, the common sense position has to be to want all three major North-eastern clubs in the Premier. What do you make of it so far?
As expected, tough with a freak win over Villa, think we can stay up but we need to avoid injuries.