Sixer’s Wembley Seven: Portsmouth perfect as Sunderland’s Wembley curse continues

I was sweating in the last few minutes of extra time, thinking “the next goal will win it”. And then Portsmouth scored, after we had lost all of the shape and brio that marked our first half performance. But somehow we scored a second  time to send the game to penalties. Which we lost.

Pete Sixsmith or one of the Salut contingent will file a report in due course. For now here’s his substitute’s (aka M Salut) post penalty seven word text:

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A Wembley a Day. When Man City did what Man United couldn’t

Courtesy of safc.com

John McCormick writes: should I be surprised or not that Lee Cattermole is the only survivor of our last trip to Wembley? After all, it was five years – or six managers, not including two caretakers – ago? We fans are much more constant aren’t we, which brings me to Pete Sixsmith, who before he departed County Durham on yet another foray south, left the final chapter from an excellent series that we trust you’ve all enjoyed:

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A Wembley a Day. Not Sunderland, not once-mighty Leeds, but no less northern for all that

picture courtesy Whitley Bay FC

You might be forgiven for having expected Pete Sixsmith to write solely about Sunderland’s trips to Wembley in this series. Then after reading his first post in the series and remembering where he’s from you might have anticipated another mention of Leeds at some point.  But Pete is more than this, a true man of many parts. Not only Sunderland home and away, with a sprinkling of Rugby League when he can. Bishop Auckland, Shildon and a host of lower league clubs have been graced by his presence. Which is how he came to be tripping down Wembley Way once more:

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Jack Ross ‘should let Dylan McGeouch show what he’s made of at Wembley’. Discuss

                           Jake, le penseur

We all know the Checkatrade, plus the international breaks and that match abandonment at Accrington Stanley, have left us with ground to make up on the other promotion contenders. A congested April (eight league games) makes a top-two place all the harder to secure. Here, Simon Carving puts the case for a bold selection choice for Sunday’s final …

Sunderland are delicately poised in fourth position in League One, five points behind second-placed Barnsley but, importantly, with two games in hand. Win those games (and a third if, as expected, Barnsley see off Coventry at home on Saturday to create an eight-point gap), and they will climb into the second automatic promotion place. Stumble and they will end up in the playoffs.

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Portsmouth Who are You?: ‘Tinpot cup but two great clubs rise again ‘

Steve Bone: ‘you’ll never drag me to a Checkatrade game – except this one’
Steve Bone.C081220-3

This is a special edition of Salut! Sunderland‘s ‘Who are You?’ series because Sunday will be a special day for two sets of fans supporting grand old clubs that have known better times but are both recovering from the horrors of recent seasons.

Our Pompey interviewee Steve Bone, from the Portsmouth Fans Network, freely admits he is going to Wembley because it’s the final and wouldn’t bother with any game earlier in the Checkatrade Trophy competition. That hardly makes him less passionate than the 80,000-odd others who will be there on Sunday. It’s a cup that matters when you reach the final and the EFL and Checkatrade are naturally chuffed at the idea of for once filling the national stadium …

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From Sunderland and Jarrow to Portsmouth and Wembley: meet the renowned Dean family

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John and Rosie Dean, with daughter Maddie

Monsieur Salut writes: by far the best part of the Pompey awayday in December, not least because we lost, was meeting the Jarrow brothers Dean – twins Paul and Stephen, who never miss a game, their Portsmouth-based sibling John and John’s family – in an excellent pub before the game. Thanks to my pal and former colleague Kevin Maguire for the introduction.

There is a more conventional Portsmouth ‘Who are You?’ to come but I thought it would be interesting to hear from John and his wife, Rosie. They’ll be together but among the Pompey fans and both are going for a narrow SAFC victory …

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A Wembley a Day. When the Scots Wha Haed on the crossbar

Courtesy of safc.com

Scots have been linked with Sunderland from the days of James Gillespie, our most capped international, who was plying his trade down here at the opening of the Forth Bridge. In the century that followed they became feared as a footballing nation, and long after mighty Celtic had stormed fortress Europe, they were still able to wreak havoc. And it wasn’t just their magical players that did the wreaking.

Pete Sixsmith knows this, having lived to tell the tale…

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Coventry hanging on to Doncaster and Charlton as Portsmouth chase Barnsley, Sunderland and Luton.


Another international break brings an opportunity to revisit the six clubs our readers* and the Coventry ninjas**  chose way back in the summer, and I’ve added Doncaster and Luton Town, who thoroughly merit more than a mention.

I last visited this series at the end of January, when I had this to say:

“… before I go I must mention Coventry City. They will finish the month with only four points from a possible fifteen. February includes some winnable games but I can’t see them doing us any favours when they travel to Kenilworth Road. Mid-table safety looks to be their destiny and I’m almost certain they won’t be returning to this series.

But you never know, do you? That’s what football’s all about.”

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