Another international weekend with Sunderland players called up. You might wonder how, given that we’re a League One club and we can barely score, never mind keep a clean sheet. But let’s be thankful for small mercies, not only does it give the players a weekend without conceding, it also gives me a chance to bring us up to date before Pete Sixsmith starts a new series (I won’t tell you what it is but I will assure you of its quality) that will take us to Christmas and the site’s wind-down.
For my part, I’ll be keeping things brief. I still have neuropathy following my treatment (follow the link to find out what I’m on about) and it’s likely to last a lot longer. Typing isn’t easy and creating and manipulating graphs takes forever, which explains why this lot aren’t a uniform size.
Still, things could be worse, I’ve now had two all-clear blood tests and we are still within spitting distance of the playoffs, as you will see below:
Rotherham United
Should’ve, Could’ve, Might’ve: Sunderland v Rotherham from sublime to ridiculous
Malcolm Dawson writes……..others I know will not share my opinions, but as I’ve got older I believe I have developed …
Sixer’s Sevens: Rotherham earn a point as Sunderland miss a penalty.
It was almost half-time when I realised Pete Sixsmith had not checked in from the Stadium of Light. That’s almost as surprising as a penalty miss at home, or not conceding in the first 45 minutes. Checks with Malcolm and Colin revealed all was well; Malcolm suggested “nervy finish after 20 minutes of dominance” for a half-time summary while Colin forwarded a text from the man himself: “great start but haven’t built on it”
Some time during the second half normal service was resumed in more ways than one. Pete sent a text which got through – “equaliser arrived after the usual appalling defending”.
And that’s how the game finished, leaving us on exactly the same number of points as at the same stage last season, but with a worse goal difference and no clean sheets, and a final seven words from Pete:
Sunderland vs Rotherham United. A big game, make it a big result for SAFC
A good result at Accrington Stanley propelled Sunderland back into the top six.
Isn’t the mark of a successful side at any level that it wins even when not playing that well, Monsieur Salut asks?
On to Rotherham at home. Who will win? By what score? Tell us below – I am sorry but we are still in just-for-fun mode, but that will change if Salut! Sunderland‘s fortunes change.
Portsmouth then Sunderland, Ipswich, Rotherham, Peterborough and Coventry top our poll. But where are Lincoln?
On Friday we had over 3,000 visitors, followed by a quiet weekend. Not everyone took part in our top six poll but over 1200 votes (not voters) have now been cast. That’s not bad, I suppose, for a League One fans’ site but I am expecting a few more will chip in before the season kicks off.
Early results suggest the headline I used then – for which I visited a couple of betting sites to find the promotion favourites – was on the right lines. Of the six clubs I named five are in the top spots. Lincoln (currently lingering in 8th place) are the exception with Sunderland, unsurprisingly, replacing them. There’s a gap – slight but quite evident – between the top three and the next three, after which numbers drop off, so Lincoln and Doncaster, who made last season’s playoffs and now lie seventh, have quite a bit of ground to make up.
All of the clubs in the League received votes, which I’m taking to signify that we managed a wide reach. It will be interesting to see if enough fans of so-called smaller clubs, which are predominantly towards the bottom of the poll, visit in large enough numbers to move their favourites upwards. Crowdwise, numbers are against them but we have only small numbers voting so you never know.
Ipswich or Portsmouth? Rotherham or Peterborough? How about Lincoln or Coventry? It’s your choice
Last season our punters got it more or less right and correctly predicted most of the top six. Luton were missed but that was mainly down to the Coventry Ninjas, whose hijack of last year’s poll pushed them (Luton) out of the top places.
Maybe the ninjas or another club’s fans will do the same again this season. As far as I’m aware the polldaddy vulnerability that allowed multiple voting still exists and all I can do is disable the ability of readers to see the results in real time. That might change how the poll coding works (it’s built-in and can’t be changed) but it takes something away. A pity, but there we go.
I’ve got a lot on for the next few weeks so I won’t be conjuring up a novel method of tracking and displaying our chosen clubs’ progress or the lack of it. All I’ll be doing is monitoring the accretion of points for now, though I might come up with something different later in the season.
As always, your comments are welcome. We hold posts for moderation but they do go up eventually, subject to meeting commonsense rules of decency, manners, libel etc.
Sixer at Rotherham: N’Zogbia shines as Moyes looks on
Malcolm Dawson writes…..all change at Sunderland AFC on Saturday morning with the official appointment of David Moyes but one thing …