John McCormick writes: In his e-mail carrying this account Pete Sixsmith said he’s addressing his remarks to Colin, Nic and myself as Malcolm had the misfortune to sit through this live. What remarks? Just the three headlines below:
ABSOLUTE RUBBISH FROM BEGINNING TO END.
YET ANOTHER CHANGE NEEDED.
NO MORE AWAY GAMES AND SEASON TICKET IN SERIOUS JEOPARDY.Are you ready?
Sunderland
Aston Villa Who are You?: ‘my poor dog Bozzie’s divine intervention vs WBA’
Some things matter more than football. Howard Hodgson, a man with of impeccable credentials* as a Villan, almost gave Aston Villa’s the midweek Premier game vs WBA a miss because his faithful friend, an Agbonlahorish hound named Bozzie after a certain ex-Villa goalie, was put down that day.
He went anyway but is sure he knows who Tim Sherwood must have had in mind when saying someone in heaven had looked down kindly on Villa that night. Bozzie was up there in the clouds, willing on his master’s team to win the game in the 92nd minute of stoppage time. Howard was back at Villa Park for the WBA cup game in time to duck the flying Albion seats and keep out of the way of pitch-invading idiots. He answered our questions, admirably, before that match so the relevant sections have been tweaked accordingly …
Mandron, Watmore, Beadling sink West Ham Under 21s. Contenders for the Boleyn?
When there’s proper football to be had in the flesh, Pete Sixsmith isn’t likely to stay in to watch Man Utd vs Arsenal on the box, with United fans incensed at Michael Oliver’s application of relatively simple laws of the game. He took himself off to Hetton to see Sunderland’s Under 21s in winning action. The opposition, West Ham, are also the first team’s opponents for the next away game. Could it be an occasion for trying out one or two of the brighter sparks among the young ‘uns, if only because the seniors have repeatedly let us down? Maybe not, but who knows what a hungry Mandron or Watmore might do …
Sunderland vs Aston Villa Guess the Score: the crunchiest of crunch matches
Stan Collymore, well-known Villa fan and – in Monsieur Salut’s humble opinion – not a bad radio pundit, had a golden opportunity to reach out to both sets of supporters ahead of this Saturday’s crucial relegation battle between Sunderland and Aston Villa.
He didn’t reply to the invitation, though we must allow for the possibility, remote as I believe it to be, that it was not forwarded to him. Instead, we had a marvellous set of responses from a free-thinking lifelong Villa fan, and a director of the club’s Supporters’ Trust, Howard Hodgson, and these will appear at Salut! Sunderland tomorrow (see footnote* for a sample).
How Dare We? Ugly Aston Villa-WBA scenes were troubling but unrepresentative
The events of Saturday evening in the Midlands offered a salutary reminder that while football hooligans may have been tamed, they have not completely gone away. But let’s not get things out of perspective; the worst of the dark age is just a nasty memory …
Sunderland thank their lucky Spurs; Tadcaster hosts Sixer pondering season ticket renewal
Can we shoot ourselves in both feet each week and still taste salvation again? All the teams around us except Villa seem to be losing and QPR kept up the process when the only Premier League game of the day saw them squander the remaining game in hand, losing 2-1 to Spurs. Pete Sixsmith relished the weekend off from watching Sunderland, took himself off to Tadcaster with Malcolm Dawson and got back home in time to see our next opponents keep up their winning sequence …
If Poyet cannot make Sunderland less turgid, can he make turgid work?
Amid all the gloom that has descended over the collective support base of Sunderland AFC, the one sentence that some will have found hardest to stomach after the narrow escape from a fifth successive defeat against Hull was Gus Poyet’s statement, in his post-match e-mail reproduced here: “I think we played well.”
Some of us would have taken the 1-1 draw at Hull if offered it beforehand, but for no better reason than that the rotten form and uninspiring tactics of recent weeks, all season with the exception of a couple of games if we’re honest, made another defeat much more likely.
Hutch’s Patch: one-word verdicts on SAFC at Hull. Not for squeamish
Let Rob Hutchison‘s summary speak for itself: ‘This Get out of Jail Free card may be kept until needed or sold. Fear we might need a whole pack of them after that sorry shower. Was it as bad as the end of MoN’s reign?’…
Sixer’s Sevens: Hull City 1 Sunderland 1. Rodwell to rescue in late revival
Colin Randall writes: Pete Sixsmith watched the first half in dismay. To my ‘utterly atrocious’, he admitted to feeling ashamed. Sunderland perked up in the second half, Patrick van Aanholt finally brought some pace and width and we were level. Mike Dead had booked Wes Brown for the early challenge (a fair one) from which Huddlestone’s low free kick was turned in neatly by N’Doye. A point was better than none though Jack Rodwell, who had headed PVA’s cross via an arm into the net, fluffed a chance to grab a winner and N’Doye was denied by a breathtaking stop by Pantilimon. The first posting of the Sevens had my emergency verdict – but it is now updated with Sixer’s own seven word summation …
Wrinkly Pete, a fan bound for Hull, on these troubled Sunderland times
Peter Lynn is as wearied by events as Nic Wiseman, but heads for Hull full of measured hope, rational thoughts about the impact of events on SAFC and abundant pride in the Sunderland travelling army he’ll be part of at the KC stadium …