Sunderland AFC beat Ipswich Town 1 – 0

Huge game today, we are in the mix for promotion which is a great credit to our managerial team. Ipswich are well placed – a win today was always going to be massive.

Stunning day and a pleasant drive up,

Today was ‘International Fans Day’ – anyone coming from Monte Carlo will have felt at home I’d say?

Game on….. 33’000 in the 3rd tier – tremendous support

1st Half….. Pretty tight, Ipswich looked better in possession than we did. They shaded the first 45

Half Time…… I can only imagine that Steve, ‘Mad Dog’, Parkin terrifies them that much that they are scared into playing better?

2nd Half……. Absolutely brilliant, we battered them. Gooch was a lick of paint away from scoring the best goal ever seen at the SOL? Wright nearly broke the crossbar. The pressure told in the end with a stunning winner from The King of Wonderland…..

SAFC V Ipswich Match summary

A well deserved win, another clean sheet, a great goal – just a great day.

Wyke missed a sitter, but wow – what an engine he has? He’s got a heart the size of a lion – SAFCBlog is loathe to be critical of Will Grigg – but it just shows the importance of passion, effort and heart on the pitch? Special mention for Flanagan, it’s never easy coming back after being dropped – but he was brilliant and was my Man of the Match today – well played Tom.

We know better than anyone that draws can be a killer, I did wonder if we’d make the breakthrough today – we did which was brilliant. If it had ended 0-0, the fact we put such a good performance in would have felt ok? The 4 points dropped vs Bolton were bad draws, but that’s gone now…. never look back.

Whilst we had a great crowd today, an empty SOL is a thing of beauty?

So a hugely positive day? I enjoy writing this blog, Football is a game of opinions and football is massively important to most reading this…. but it’s just a game.

I mulled over whether to write the next bit…… but fuck it;

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About a mile from the stadium today driving through Hendon we spotted someone sparked out by the side of the road. We deliberated for a few seconds and turned back at the roundabout to see what was going on.

We all have choices, but in the following 15 minutes or so, only 1 car of I’d guess 500, decided to stop, (it was clear it was a serious situation). My working life has exposed me to some pretty traumatic scenarios. The disparity in Life Chances is wide.

Today ended well in that the fatality we thought we were dealing with initially didn’t come to fruition. The young man involved was a man in need, sadly I don’t think that will change – as ever our wonderful emergency services came to the fore. So….. why on earth am I writing this?

Well…….. it’s fucking out there, whilst the degrees vary, everyone reading this will have pals or colleagues who need you. Depression in footballers and young men is a pandemic on the horizon sadly? Just ask and then ask again – it’s very rare in life that you have regrets for something you have done rather than avoided? Real life is a tough fucking gig – I’m sure lots won’t want to read this – but fuck it, I’ve got a great life…. but via counselling, depression, PTSD and anxiety over the years, undoubtedly with more challenges to come?

There’s a storm coming tonight, it’s blowy as fuck outside already. I’ve moved my bins and made some literal preparation to shelter from the storm…… let’s all do our best to metaphorically shelter someone from the storm.

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Great win – Roll on Tuesday

https://youtu.be/12rUOLtbQDk