Sunderland 3 Lincoln City 1 match report

Sunderland A.F.C. – things starting to look a bit brighter??

SAFC Blog things are starting to look a little brighter

Sunderland Lincoln Match Report

Today had the feel of a big game, we’d been decent at both Doncaster and Fleetwood, a win today would be a huge step in the right direction. I have been hugely behind Parkinson from the off and remain so – I’m not going to go into that today, as I’ll publish an article tomorrow about how I’ve seen fitness, intensity, desire & tempo improving game by game. I’d love to be watching football at a level where ability and skill alone can win you games – whilst quality is of course a factor, we are in L1 and we need heart & organisation. I’m of the firm belief that he will bring in exactly the type of people we need in the window…. of course talent is required, but I use the world people rather than players, this is L1 and you ain’t going up without the right people and Heart? Anyway…. much more of that tomorrow at www.safcblog.com, onto the main event, Lincoln City at home. We got stuffed in October at their gaff – whilst we were desperate, they looked decent, added to the fact they arrived on Wearside after back to back wins against Ipswich and Peterborough, a tough game beckoned. The internet is full of stats and the Matchday programme is full of details about our opponents, if that’s your bag that’s fine – here at www.safcblog.com we try to take an alternative view, totally independent and ad free etc. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s just what we care about …… watching Sunderland and having a laugh along the way. Set off earlier than usual for no other reason than we had nothing better to do.

Breakfast of Champions SAFCBlog heading to Sunderland v Lincoln

Breakfast of Champions Whilst I quite like where I live, I’d love to live by the sea. The North East Coastline is a thing of beauty, with this in mind we took a detour to Hendon Beach – bizarrely we then watched the wonderful coastguards rescuing a spaniel who had become detached from its owner and was marooned 20 foot below on the rocks….

SAFC Blog things are starting to look a little bit brighter

On a Wave of Optimism – SAFCBlog predicted a 3-1 win in yesterday’s match preview….. watch this space

Matt Lucas and David Walliams take a well earned rest from filming Lou and Andy for the new series of Little Britain

SAFCBlog taken a well deserved rest before the Sunderland Lincoln match

On to the Stadium of Light

Dog safely reunited with it’s owner and the feel good factor is high, haven’t had a bet for a while at the game so have £5 on Flanagan 1st goal at 25/1.

Under the Bridge…….. “take me the place I love, take me all the way……”

Fitness, Heart and Desire welcome to League 1

SOL looking great…….GAME ON

sunderland 1st half performance

1st half….. brilliant, we battered them, best prolonged passage of play since Barnsley at home last season. Some of their defending was ridiculously poor, but we got right at them, harried them from the off and at this level teams will make mistakes if you pressure them. It really was oneway traffic – we probably should have had a few more? Half time …… we discussed how often when it’s 3 or 4 nil at half time the game drifts 2nd half, probably due to the losing team getting a rollocking and also not wanting to be humiliated.

2nd half….

Not as good, but the job was done, watching your own team is emotionally draining, we’d have to be 6-0 up for me to totally relax. Whilst they were better than in the 1st half, the result was never really in doubt. On Wednesday a shocking referring decision cost us 2 points, thankfully today the incompetence wasn’t as costly – but their goal was both a foul on Denver and miles offside. Overall…….. very impressive, lots of decent performances – hard to pick a MOM, although having been critical of Max Power a few weeks ago, he was good at Fleetwood and very good today. Nice of Flanagan to score the 1st goal too – a day of positives. As always it’s a game of opinions, but for me we are improving and crucially we look miles fitter than we did 6 weeks ago – I was very critical of the fitness level after we lost at home to Burton, when 4 or 5 of our players were blowing out of their arses after 65 minutes. Loads of games left, we will see wins, draws and defeats …. who knows what’s going to happen Come What May – but…… the last 3 games have seen us play with heart, desire, organisation and plenty of creativity. I’m not for one minute suggesting everything is fixed – but it’s been shite for a while, so whilst it’s a game of opinions…. I enjoyed today and cannot believe we have to wait a whole week for the next instalment After a trip to the seaside and day in the company of a fisherman and a wonderful Irishman once we landed at the SOL….. here’s a bit of music for the two fine men in question https://youtu.be/HSuYUItahrE No need to like, share or follow….. *SAFCBlog.com – Unsocial Social Media* since 2019 FTM