John McCormick, writes: our ‘who to follow’ poll remained quiet, although the trickle of votes that came in over the last week did result in some changes. Sunderland and Portsmouth are clear leaders, with not much between them, after which we have Ipswich, Rotherham and Peterborough. Then come Doncaster, who edged ahead of Coventry, followed at a distance by Lincoln and Burton.
I did expect Blackpool to do better but our site appears to have attracted few of their fans. Their season tickets had reached 4,818, when I last checked, so there’s obviously life returning to this once-troubled club. That’s about twice the number sold by Coventry, whose own troubles are nowhere being resolved and who slipped out of our top six after Doncaster Rovers gained a few votes. A third troubled club, Bolton Wanderers, who might or might not be sold by the time this post goes live, also didn’t do too badly and finished in the top half of the table. I don’t know how they’ll do that with only 7 first team players but what do I know about football?
Malcolm Dawson writes…….at half time Pete Sixsmith’s text was less than complimentary about our opponents who he feels reflect the attitude and personality of their manager. Watching on TV there were some obvious examples of what some might call acceptable gamesmanship and others underhand.
But with a 1-0 lead at the three quarter mark I was still apprehensive about whether or not we’d hang on and even with only a minute left the butterflies were fluttering in my stomach.
How Pete was feeling at Fratton park he’ll doubtlessly let us know when he eventually gets round to filing his match report. For now let’s make do with his 7 word verdict.
Jake says “WhooooooHoooo”!
16 May 2019 Portsmouth 0 (o) Sunderland 0 (0) Disciplined and controlled from start to finish.
11 May 2019 Sunderland 1 (0) Portsmouth 0 (0) Deserved, thanks to gutsy second half performance.
4 May 2019 Southend United 2 (1) Sunderland 1 (0) Deserved nothing. Southend kept going. We didn’t.
30 April 2019 Fleetwood Town 2 (0) Sunderland 1 (1) Lost any semblance of control after leading/More points dropped to an average team/Lost – worst league finish in our history
27 April 2019 Sunderland 1 (1) Portsmouth 1 (1) A frustrating result against unpleasant opponents
22 April Peterborough United 1(0) Sunderland 1 (0) Bitterly disappointed at the end. Automatic gone
19 April 2019 Sunderland 2 (2) Doncaster Rovers 0 (0) The manager gambled and it came off
13 April 2019 Sunderland 4 (3) Coventry City 5 (3) Incredible but for all the wrong reasons
09 April Sunderland 1(1) Burton Albion 1 (1) Looked a tired side against sprightly opposition
06 April Rochdale 1 (1) Sunderland 2 (0) Had to battle for a huge win.
April 2 Accrington Stanley 0 (0) Sunderland 3 ( 2 ) Comfortable win with some excellent individual performances
March 31 EFL Checkatrade Trophy final: Sunderland 2 (1) Portsmouth 2 (0) (AET. Portsmouth win on penalties.)
*Penalties gloom as Lads fade after interval.
March 16 Sunderland 2 (1) Walsall 1 (1) Nervy and edgy but it’s three points
March 12 Barnsley 0 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) Difficult opponents, difficult conditions: a good point
March 9 Wycombe Wanderers 1 (1) Sunderland 1 (0) We’ll take the point and move on
March 5 Checkatrade trophy semifinal: Bristol Rovers 0 (0) Sunderland 2 (1) Controlled performance means we’re off to Wembley
March 2 Sunderland 2 (1) Plymouth Argyle 0 (0) Great first half followed by competent second
February 23 Bristol Rovers 0 (0) Sunderland 2 (1) Rather a good day at the office
February 19 Sunderland 4 (2) Gillingham 2 (2) Not entirely convincing but it’s a win
February 15 Sunderland (0) 2 Accrington Stanley (1) 2 Two points dropped but grateful for one
February 12 Sunderland (0) 1 Blackpool (1) 1 Two chances missed equals two lost points
February 9 Oxford United (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1Scunthorpe all over again. Two points wasted
February 2 2019 Sunderland 1 (0) AFC Wimbledon 0 (0) A welcome win but hard to watch
Checkatrade Trophy quarterfinals: January 22 Sunderland 2 (1) Manchester City Under 21s 0 (0) Clean sheet, two goals and a semifinal
January 19 Scunthorpe United 1 (0) Sunderland 1 (o) Same old story. One goal rarely enough
January 12 Sunderland 1 (1) Luton 1 (0) Failure to build on lead costs us
January 5 Charlton (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1 * Sunderland weather storm to earn useful point
January 1 Blackpool (0) 0 Sunderland (1) 1Outstanding performance by Maja earns the points
December 29 Sunderland (1) 1 Shrewsbury Town (1) 1 A very frustrating afternoon. Never got going
December 26 Sunderland (1) Bradford City (0) 0 Hard fought win and thanks to linesman
December 22 Portsmouth (0) 3 Sunderland (0) 1 Better side until Loovens’s idiocy turned game
December 15 Sunderland 2 (1) Bristol Rovers 1 (1) * Just enough quality snuffs out the gas and Gas pressure tests us at the end
December 11 FA Cup 2nd Round replay Sunderland 0 (0) Walsall 1 (0) Pedestrian performance that raises some serious doubts
December 8 Accrington Stanley A (0) Match Abandoned Sunderland (0) Wet, wet, wet and to do again
December 1 Walsall 1 (0) strong>Sunderland 1 (0) *Fifteen minutes of Walsall pressure means replay
Nov 27 Sunderland 4 (3) Barnsley 2 (1) An important win with some shaky moments
Nov 24 Walsall 2 (2) Sunderland 2 (2) Even more heroic than Thermopylae and Agincourt
Nov 17 Sunderland 1 (0) Wycombe Wanderers 1 (0) A fair result after a disappointing performanceI
Nov 13 Morecambe 0 (0) Sunderland 1 (0) Left it late but the run continues
Nov 11 Port Vale 1 (1) Sunderland 2 (2) Negotiated a tricky tie successfully. Southport next?
Nov 3 Plymouth Argyle (0) 0 Sunderland (0) 2* Solid team performance earns another away win*
Oct 27 Sunderland 3 (1) Southend United 0 (0) Three goals and another clean sheet. Great
Oct 23 Doncaster Rovers 0 Sunderland 1 (0) Winning ugly is just fine by me.
Oct 20 Shrewsbury Town 0 (0) Sunderland 2 (0) A comfortable win that just oozed professionalism
Oct 6 Bradford City 1 (0) Sunderland 2 (1) Great win but Power made it difficult
Oct 2 Sunderland 2 (1) Peterborough 2 (0) Good point but spoiled by woeful refereeing
Sept 29 Coventry City (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 1 Fair result that could have been worse
Sept 22 Sunderland 4 (3) Rochdale 1 (0) Fifteen minute purple patch wrapped this up
Sept 15 Burton Albion 2 (2) Sunderland 1 (o) Weaknesses horribly exposed in a deserved defeat
Sept 8 Sunderland 1 (1) Fleetwood Town 1 (1) Huffed and puffed against very difficult opponents
Sept 4 Sunderland 0 (0) [4] Stoke City U21s 0 (0) [2] *Decent workout for young guns and recoverees
Sept 1 Sunderland 1 (0) Oxford United 1 (1 ) Poor first half, dug in well second
Aug 19 Sunderland 3 (3) Scunthorpe United 0 (0) Iron pummeled as three lusty blows delivered
Aug 16 Carabao Cup: Sunderland (0) 0 Sheffield Wednesday (1) 2 Result disappointing but plenty to enthuse about
Aug 11 Luton Town (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1 Played well in patches against solid opposition
Aug 4 Sunderland (0) 2 Charlton Athletic (1) 1 A great day for club and academy
July 21 St Mirren (0) 0 Sunderland (2) 6* Cracking results like this will suit fine
July 17 Grimsby Town (0) Sunderland (1) 1*Gooch’s header from Maguire’s cross settles matters
July 14 Hartlepool United (1) 1 Sunderland (0) 1 Yet to see anything to inspire confidence
July 10 Darlington (1) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 Embarrassing
A moral victory as well as an actual one, will that single goal be enough? That’s not a question I’m going to answer here as I don’t want to jinx a team that had more than enough bad luck in the first leg. It must be said the first 20 minutes were not good, but then we grew into the game and were dominant until an excellent substitution by Jack Ross was negated by a very poor refereeing deision
Pete Sixsmith will be doing a full report in due course, unless Malcolm subs for him, and will no doubt fulminate at length on that decision. For now he has but seven words with which to describe the game
Part one of our mid-season review looked forward to the Christmas games.
Part two looked at what had happened up to New Year’s Day.
Part three was delayed until yesterday, and I’m taking the time to update that post after yesterday’s results. The first part of this one is the same as yesterday, given that we didn’t play. It’s the discussion of the breakaway group that has changed:
Another international break, another chance to catch up on our favourites for the promotion and playoff places.
You might remember they were, in no particular order, Fulham, Leeds, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland. How have they done?
(If you’re new to this series, or if you want to catch up, you can trot over to Mccormick’s dodgy numbers, find the first post in the series (27th June) and work your way up the page).
John McCormick, writes: our ‘who to follow’ poll remained quiet, although the trickle of votes that came in over the last week did result in some changes. Sunderland and Portsmouth are clear leaders, with not much between them, after which we have Ipswich, Rotherham and Peterborough. Then come Doncaster, who edged ahead of Coventry, followed at a distance by Lincoln and Burton.
Malcolm Dawson writes…….at half time Pete Sixsmith’s text was less than complimentary about our opponents who he feels reflect the attitude and personality of their manager. Watching on TV there were some obvious examples of what some might call acceptable gamesmanship and others underhand.
Part one of our mid-season review looked forward to the Christmas games.
