Lump of Coal ? Aye…
       So the “festive” season is officially over and you can’t help but
feel bitterly disappointed with the lads for it, going into the leeds game
just three points behind Ipswich and knowing that a win would take us level
after there defeat and a 5-0 thumping would take us top, a bumper crowd
turned up only to be scared away in typical fashion by a under-performing
SAFC side that simply weren’t good enough, not all was lost though, at least
we were only three points behind.
So on we went, not to be deterred SAFC brought five thousand mackems down
with them to Forrest for another shaky performance, alright we won, but to
the sceptics amongst us it was a bit of a shaky day, some say the hallmark
of a good team is playing badly and winning, I, on the other hand, say that
two below par performances against below par opposition isn’t good enough, a
case of whether you’re glass is half full or half empty, I suppose…
After that its Preston, a visit to Lancashire and I doubt I was the only
one surprised by the PNE “Massive” which was intent on shaking their fists
at every passing Sunderland fan, despite this, it was still quite humorous
to see the OTT police escort into the ground for travelling coaches.
Anyway, more to the point, another awful performance, in the first half
anyway, second half we improved and beat them 0-2 in the final forty five
minutes, though it was hardly ala Arsenal. Mick McCarthy labelled the first
half showing as the worst he’s ever seen at Sunderland, I think he’d be hard
pressed to find one at any of his other clubs too, although a 6-0 thrashing
at Roker park  against his Millwall team might be up there..
Gillingham today and a draw, reminiscent of last season, failing to break
down a weak team with nothing in the way of an attacking force, that is of
course if you take Gary Breen out of the equation, who for me, was to blame
for there goal.
Its getting a bit worrying then, in the past four games against teams in
the bottom half of the table we’ve taken 4 points out of a possible 12, its
not good enough, and it certainly isn’t promotion form, oh, and our most
established midfielder in Carl Robinson is out injured, as is Liam Lawrence
and Julio Arca, Brill !
Now, set you’re minds back to when we finished seventeenth in the
premiership, it all went tits up around Christmas, Ipswich away if I
remember correctly, I’m not saying were heading that end of the table just
yet, but it is something to worry about, sort of..
All pretty grim stuff then, add to the fact that over one hundred and fifty
thousand people have died in Asia from a “tsunami” and it has hardly been
that festive at all in the past week, has it?
Don’t despair though, at least Sean Thornton has came back and , against
Preston and Gillingham at least, has shown that he’s well worthy of a place
in the starting eleven, Elliot looks slap bang in form again after some time
out and Andy Welsh was alright against Preston, Palace on Saturday should be
a test of our promotion credentials and an indication as to how well we
might do if we were promoted, although the way things are going, don’t bet
against an Andy Johnson hat-trick and a Gary Breen own goal.

All the best.

daveydavey