Several times a season, Britain’s best newspaper, The Observer, recognises quality elsewhere and comes to Salut! Sunderland, or rather to
Pete Sixsmith , for a match summing up. So did Pete witness a game in which our stars, released from the least relegation concerns, produced an away win with free-flowing total football? Not exactly. Pete saw an away win – at last – but it was painful. But let’s hear from a disconsolate Hull first…
RICK SKELTON HullCityOnline.com:
It was a bit of a wimper-ish way to go down. We started appallingly, and Sunderland could have had three in the first 10 minutes. Then we missed the penalty, lost Altidore – who was stupid to react and deserved to get sent off – and the second half was a non-event. We had plenty of the ball but we haven’t broken anybody down in two seasons. We’re in trouble now – there’s going to be a CVA or we’ll go into administration, and I’m certain we’ll start on -10 points next season. I wouldn’t mind Iain Dowie staying as he seems to empathise with the place but will we be able to afford even him?
Player ratings: Duke 7; Mendy 7, Gardner 6, Mouyokolo 8, Dawson 6; Barmby 6 (Fagan 62 6), Boateng 8 (Cullen 75 7), Bullard 5, (Cairney 46 7) Geovanni 7; Altidore 4, Folan 6