Saturday

So, it seems that Diouf had to go after a bust-up involving Ferdinand. Anton’s the last of our squad I’d get into an argument with. Still, I was a bit sad to see him go though he hasn’t played as well as I saw him play for Bolton against us in May. With the £5 million we’ve got from the two recent transfers we can afford a decent new signing. I think Sami Hyppia would be an excellent buy and with his great experience he could do what Steve Bould did for us. It was great news for us that Owen and Barton will miss tomorrow’s match. Owen may not be what he once was but he’s still a big danger in the box.

Sunday Morning

The sun is breaking through the clouds here in Ladbroke Grove and I’m gearing myself up for watching the match at The Pavilion, at the end of my street. It’s Q.P.R. territory and let’s just say that today’s game doesn’t exactly arouse much fervour down there. From this morning’s news it seems almost certain that Ben Haim is going to join us on loan but it’s gone quiet on the Hyppia front. As we know most of the transfer action will take place in the short time remaining so we’ll have to wait and see. Yesterday I attended the 80 th birthday celebrations in Liverpool of Fred Jones, who played a tiny part in Sunderland’s history by making two appearances in 1953 as our reserve team goalie and as a life-long Blue Nose he was well up for Everton to beat Liverpool in Wednesday’s replay. All the best to Fred and his family. Right, there’s just time to get some ballast down my neck and I’m off out. I think we’re going to get at least a draw today but let’s hope the snow keeps off. Hi ho!

The Match

There were no fans of either side in the pub but after a few minutes a group of lads came in who’d been playing football on Wormwood Scrubs over the road and they enjoyed Cisse putting us 1-0 up just after half an hour. Despite the appeals for offside it looked like a good goal to me, of course, with Whitehead slotting a ball through the heart of their defence and Cisse hitting home after Harper had stopped his first shot. Someone observed that Cisse’s gloves matched his beard. The Newcastle team had looked decidedly down in the mouth as the sides came out while our lot looked relaxed and as the game went on we were spraying the ball around confidently. Richardson was looking particularly good and he almost repeated his free-kick goal from October when he hit the post after twenty minutes. Gutierrez was their most dangerous player and his runs down the left produced their best chances. The tackles were going in hard from both sides and Bardsley and Rico were booked for us and Butt for them. We dominated the first half and deserved to go in ahead at half-time.

Newcastle must’ve had a good rollicking at the break because they came out with a lot more fight than they’d shown in the first-half and we were on the back foot for most of the time. Their penalty equalizer was very dodgy indeed as Taylor seemed to have pushed our defender over before falling over himself. Duff had been booked ten minutes earlier for diving in the box but Taylor’s effort looked even less convincing to me. The neutrals in the pub were nearly all on our side. Anyway, Ameobi scored from the spot and they were level. Cisse had had to go off injured ten minutes into the half and when Chops came on the script was written for him to score. Our best effort of the half came when he created a good chance on the left angle of the box and crossed but Kenwyne didn’t have his shooting boots on and the chance went begging. With about twenty minutes left Reid replaced Edwards and in the fifth minute of stoppage time he had a great shot that went just wide. I thought the game was never going to end and the butterflies were flapping around my stomach and the curses flowing from my lips as the seconds ticked away. So, it finished 1-1 and really I was disappointed as we’d coped with everything they were throwing at us from open play. I’ll see how I feel when the adrenalin and the Foster’s wear off. An away point is nothing to be sniffed at and we remain undefeated in our four derby games this season. After Wednesday’s interlude against Blackburn we can face Stoke at home next weekend with some confidence.

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