Sunderland strike me as an exciting team this season with lots of ability in forward positions. In their last two matches they impressed in drawing 0-0 at promoted Burnley and then played some great stuff while revealing another side to their character in a 4-4 home draw with Hull which ended with the visitors equalising from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game.
Maybe that explains why Sunderland are likely to miss out on the Play Offs? They are a young side that, perhaps, lacks the nous at this level to see out a win in the sort of position they found themselves in against Hull on Good Friday, but they come to Cardiff tomorrow probably believing that nothing less than a win will do for their top six prospects.
The worst performance I’ve seen from Sunderland this season was when they entertained us on November 5. We gave one of our best performances of the campaign that day mind and were well worth our 1-0 win thanks to Mark Harris’ goal.
All of a sudden it’s raining goals in City games with nine of them in our last two matches and, incredibly by the standards of this season, we’ve scored five of them! I get the feeling that it won’t be a 0-0 draw tomorrow, but that’s as far as I’ll go with any prediction.
Here's seven questions on Sunderland from every decade going back to the sixties with the answers to be posted on here on Tuesday.
60s. This native of Devon took a while to establish himself with a club close to home and when he finally became their first choice, they promptly got relegated! However, Sunderland had seen enough to be persuaded to sign him early in the following season. In contrast to his earlier experience, it only took him two months to nail down his place at his second club and things stayed that way for most of the four years he spent in the north east. He didn’t sample a win in his two encounters with City as a draw at Roker Park as we said goodbye to the Second Division for a short while was the best his team managed, When he moved on, it was to London to represent a fit and healthy club and then there was time for one last season with striped city dwellers who, funnily enough, do not feature green in their kit. Who am I describing?
70s. For someone born in Newccastle, this midfielder spent an awful lot of his career playing in the south of England. He began at Sunderland and was part of a Youth Cup winning team before breaking into the first team as they were dropping into the Second Division. For a relatively short period, he was a regular opponent of City’s – in fact he faced them four times in one season and, in six encounters against us, he only won the one game. A side which, at one time, were top of a particular list of the ninety two league clubs took him to the capital, but he only made the one league appearance for them in his single season there before moving a little to the north to play for a team which soon saw him in the top flight again – for a single season anyway. A move back to London followed to play in a draught and then he had a spell with the south coast team that had moved to the top of that list I mentioned earlier by then. His final destination as a player saw him turning out closer to home for a club whose ground is defined as a two wheel carriage that is pulled by a horse! Can you name the player?
80s. View the host initially with reference to England international. (5,9)
90s. Twenty per cent of a river birth by the sound of it!
00s. Vouchsafe metallic ale?
10s. Who is being described here?
“In 2008, he was given a three year pub ban across the village of Stockton and was added to the Pubwatch list of troublemakers. This ban was extended by a further year in 2011 following a unanimous vote by the members of Pubwatch.
20s. Factually correct statement about Laurel and Hardy.
Answers:
60s. Peter Wakeham began his career playing in goal for Torquay United and signed for Sunderland in 1958, the following year he was in the Sunderland side beaten 2-1 at Ninian Park early in our 59/60 promotion season and he also played in a late season 1-1 draw at Roker Park after it had been confirmed that we’d be going up. Wakeham left Sunderland for Charlton Athletic in 1962 and spent the 65/66 playing for Lincoln City before leaving the full time game.
70s. Brian Chambers was signed by Arsenal (at one time top of an alphabetical list of the ninety two Football League clubs) in 1973, but, after failing to establish himself there, signed for Luton who were promoted at the end of the 73/74 campaign. Chambers left Luton in 1977 to play at Cold Blow Lane, the location of Millwall’s Den, for a couple of years. He then signed for AFC Bournemouth, the side which had replaced Arsenal at the top of the alphabetical list, before finishing in 1981 with a short spell playing at Halifax’s Shay.
80s. Steve Whitworth.
90s. Niall Quinn.
00s. Grant Leadbitter.
10s. Lee Cattermole.
20s. Ollie Younger (Stan Laurel was born in 1890 and Oliver Hardy was born twi years later).