Being a Southern based Blues fan (Yeah I know, “Glory Hunter”) I don’t often make the trip to North East away games but as I was in York on the Friday I thought I’d pop in to see Blues start their 2010-11 campaign. The sun was just about shining and as I had stayed over the night before I decided to use the morning to check out Sunderland’s shopping district. In short, it’s a bit rubbish unless you like sausage rolls as I counted no less than three separate branches of Greggs within five minutes walk of each other. It was pastry heaven. As there wasn’t much to entertain me in the town I went to the ground early so to get a good look around get some photo’s for our Facebook page. While wandering near the main entrance I saw Nico Vaesen who was chatting happily with a couple of Bluenoses although I’m not sure what he was doing there.
Inside the ground the facilities for away fans were pretty decent and I was able to watch the second half of Tottenham vs Man City while enjoying a pie and a pint. Enjoying might be too strong a word for the pie as it was bit solid and not as good as ones I’ve sampled elsewhere. I had the meat and potato, I was also offered a chicken balti one but declined as everyone knows you can’t get a decent Balti outside of the West Midlands. The area soon filled up with a good number of Blues fans and I reckon there was nearly the full two thousand there. I had a good seat up in row thirty-eight which I took early to check that Ben Foster was indeed warming up after his injury scare. I checked out the other starting players and it was interesting to note that nine of the starting eleven had played in the Championship in the 2008-09 season. I wasn’t sure about the starting line up as it looked too defensive to me. I was surprised that Zigic and Gardner were on the bench but I suppose you have to get as many games as you can from O’Connor before he does his groin again. It was a bit disappointing that on the first day of the season the only new player I got to watch was the goalkeeper.
After a nice bit of Tchaikovsky the match kicked off and it quickly became apparent that Blues were still in pre-season mode. The first half went by without us putting together any kind of move of note but Sunderland while starting brightly didn’t create that many chances. Their goal when it came was due to poor play by Roger Johnson that allowed Campbell to get free. Steven Carr misjudged the pace of the forward (I can see that happening a lot this year) and was a fraction late to the ball. My initial reaction was that it was not a penalty but more because I thought Carr got the ball more than the fact that it was outside the box. Darren Bent calmly put away the penalty and it looked like being a long day for the Blues. Lee Cattermole escaped a booking for elbowing O’Connor in the head (It was probably accidental) but got one shortly after for hugging Jerome in the centre circle. Luckily for O’Connor the damage was only to his head and he was able to continue after being patched up. Cattermole on the other hand didn’t get to continue for very much longer as he lunged into Bowyer from behind and promptly picked up his second booking and departed. Steve “I don’t like to complain but..” Bruce blamed the inexperience of the ref but the fact was that both challenges were bookable and Cattermole really should have been more careful.
For the second half McFadden replaced Fahey who had offered nothing and that coupled with being a man up seemed to give Blues a boost. It was against the run of play slightly when Sunderland went 2-0 up thanks to a brilliantly taken own goal by Steven Carr. I doubt he could do that again if he tried. Being two down meant more changes and McLeish brought on Zigic and Gardner replacing O’Connor and Carr who had had a stinker. Zigic immediately started to caused problems without actually winning any clean headers. Seb Larsson started to come more into the game and produced a number of great balls into the box. With just under twenty minutes to go we got a corner and Scott Dann managed to get his head on the ball and forced it under the keeper. Not long afterwards another great ball into the box by Larsson ended with the ball in the back of the net but I have no idea how it got there and I don’t think the players did either. This sent the away fans mad and it could have been even better if Zigic’s snap shot in injury time had been on target. To come back from two goals down to draw away from home always feels like a win and it was the Mackems who were leaving early.
After the game it was just the four and a half hour drive back home which gave me plenty of time to reflect on the game while listening to 606 with Robbie Savage (Surprisingly only one person phoned up to have a go at him!). It wasn’t a great performance but I do love the never say die attitude of this team. I hope next week we start with the team that finished the game rather than the one that started it although I would keep Carr at right back and put Gardner or Michel in midfield instead of Bowyer who’s not having the influence he was. A point at the Stadium of Light is well earned and it’s one more than we got last year. We will get better and I don’t see us having any problems with relegation even if we don’t get that new striker / winger we all want. In the end I got back to my small town in Bucks (Only one Greggs) at ten o’clock very tired but looking forward to the rest of the season.
Salut! Sunderland’s Review of the Game.
Great report, Mike!
An excellent read and, although an internet stream I’d just paid for proved to be as temperamental as ones I got for free last season, a seemingly fair account of the game (most of which i had to follow on a partisan local radio link). I’d never have a pint at the ground, by the way, though that’s a real ale bore talking and I suppose our yellow fizz is no worse than anyone else’s.
The build-up to the game at Salut! Sunderland, with Kevin Ball’s perfect preview, and the subsequent Bowyer/C(l)attermole banter have all been great fun and I hope both our clubs move on to get some points under their belts.
common sense and sausage rolls!
I fancy a good cup run.
Good read, hopefully well get a bit of play maker in and some pace in the midfield. Left back wouldnt be bad either!! Vaesen is now a football agent – he took the young goalkeeper they had to sunderland.