Southend Report

6 months on from the demoralising defeat to Southend, the team is hardly recognisable from that day. Not only in personnel but in every other way imaginable. Back then the club was drifting downwards, despite Quinn taking over, we couldn’t buy a win and we were stuck with a bunch of players who’d given up the previous year. Roy Keane was just an ex footballer who most of us didn’t really like. Now he’s Sunderlands man and he’s turned around that team and its great credit to him and the players that today we moved into the play-off places and gave Southend a hammering.

Known for his team changes, Keane made only one today, Miller coming back in for the rested Yorke. Slow starts seem a thing of the past these days and straight away we were into our stride and within minutes into the lead. Edwards was fed down the right by John. He cut inside, picked his moment for the cross and Connolly tapped in for the opener. This move would be a theme throughout the game, with Edwards being a constant threat. The second may have come sooner than it did with John hitting the post from a nice build-up. The second did arrive when a through ball from Connolly found Hysen who took the last defender on and beat the keeper with aplomb.

The first 20 minutes was the best I had seen Sunderland play for quite some time, maybe years. We were passing the ball around with pace, the 2 wide men causing problems and the front two held the ball up well and had good movement. After the second Southend tightened up a little and the game settled down a bit. Whenever Southend did attack it was quickly brought to a halt with the excellent defence, spearheaded by Nosworthy and Evans. Nosworthy goes from strength to strength each game and has made that position his own now. One of the better strikers in the league in Freddie Eastwood didn’t have a look in today.

John could have had another goal himself when a goal a header was tipped just over but he was a constant threat up front and it was easily his best game in a red and white shirt

Second half and it seemed inevitable that there’d be more goals. Straight away Edwards was down the right again putting several good crosses in that just failed to find the man. We had another good penalty shout turned down and Whitehead struck the post from a free-kick that was given seconds later.

Southends resistance relented eventually and after Whitehead again hit the post, Stern John scored from the rebound for his first goal then a minute later a cross from Miller found John unmarked at the back post and he fired in to make it 4.

It was exhilerating stuff and after weeks of fairly attritional football it all fit together this afternoon. True, Southend are bottom of the league but they’re in good form of late and beat Birmingham not long ago.

So the easier run of games are over and now come the big 3. Win all 3 and there’s no stopping us. Stay unbeaten and it’ll be a great return. Beat any of them and you make up good ground on them. Keane has got a good side assembled now, how good they are will be proved in the next fortnight.

Man of the match – Carlos Edwards

Report by marcopaul

Rockin's rant

The buzz is beginning to ebb back into Sunderland, something which hasn’t been around for a long, long time and it’s great to see. A crowd of 33,576 watched today’s game; hopefully the numbers will keep growing after a very promising run of late. Keano dropped Dwight Yorke to the bench, for a rest, and replaced him with Liam Miller who’d been in fine form before his unfortunate injury.

The lads started the game with a quick tempo, as they’ve done for the majority of the home games. The difference for today’s game was that we got an early goal within the opening four minutes. Carlos Edwards broke well down the right and after getting a few lucky rebounds in his favour, found himself right down towards the by-line. After coolly waiting until the right time he picked out David Connolly with a fantastic low cross and left Connolly with an easy tap in. 1-0 up so early was a definite boost for everyone in the ground. Though we didn’t rest on our laurels and almost scored a second seven minutes later, unfortunately though Stern John’s header, from a Whitehead cross, came back off the woodwork. However, three minutes later we did get that important second goal. Connolly picked the ball up just over the half way line and instinctively looped a ball over his right shoulder to the on running Tobias Hysen. Hysen skipped past his marker and placed a fantastic shot past the ‘keeper. 2-0 and we were in control and never looked threatened by a substandard Southend.

The lads seemed to take their foot off the pedal a little as the half went on and began to relax. We created a few more chances and should probably have went into half time three or four nil up however, it wasn’t to be despite some excellent play from every player on the pitch, not just a few.

We started the second half well, though not as quickly as the first. We were very relaxed and spread the ball over the park well. What seems to be becoming a massive talking point amongst Sunderland fans is the fact that we haven’t been awarded a penalty for roughly 64 games, and as in other games there was a big shout for one today. Liam Miller broke into the box and had his legs taken from under him from a Southend defender. The ‘referee’ waved appeals away, which was quite frankly a disgraceful decision which infuriated everyone. Within the same passage of play Connolly was hacked down right on the edge of the box and we were awarded a free kick, following this decision was a bit of a scuffle between both sets of players and resulted in Dean Whitehead receiving his fifth booking of the season. After this prolonged break in play we finally got down to the free kick, which the inept referee had decided to move back 5 yards. Miller unleashed a fantastic right foot shot which unfortunately came back off the post.

A carnival atmosphere began to build within the stadium and the fans were in good voice, to top it off a Mexican wave started. It’s likely that back in August no fan could have imagined such events happening this season and such a turn around that has followed, although nothing has been achieved yet. It was a fantastic sight to witness after so much darkness.

After a good one-two between Whitehead and Connolly, Whitehead broke into the box and saw his well struck shot come back off the base of the post, though thanks to Stern John the move didn’t go to waste and the striker was in the right place at the right place to slot home his first goal of the season. John wasn’t finished though and one minute later, after some fantastic work from Liam Miller, John fired home his second and our fourth of the afternoon. Miller had broke down the right wing and then, turning onto his left foot, picked out Stern John who’d pulled back onto the back post and unleashed a fantastic strike home. Three points in the bag and we can now look forward to Birmingham.

It’s no exaggeration to state that every player on the pitch was outstanding today and that it was our best home performance thus far. The downside of this is that it makes it harder for me to single one player out as man of the match.

MOTM - Carlos Edwards who ran up and down the right wing all afternoon. He made some fantastic crosses and was involved in everything going forward. Edwards was very impressive and hopefully there’ll be more to come.

Wiggum's Whinge

Football is certainly all about confidence, last time we played Southend we were laughed off the park by a team who we all know are crap; this was confirmed by their performance today at the SoL, utter turd. However, let’s not take any thing away from how good Sunderland played today to take us finally into the playoffs in fifth position. The football at times was as Stern John likes to refer to as "total football" and the home crowd were finally delivered what Quinny said he would bring to the table, bright attacking football with flair. This is the difference in why Sunderland are a real contender to be promoted come May, we now possess the confidence that Keano has breathed into the squad and every team in the league now knows we are in this till the end and are a real threat both home and away.

Keane who always likes to dabble with his team selections only made the one change by resting the recently impressive Yorke and bringing back Liam Miller in the centre alongside the skipper Whitehead. Otherwise it was the same as Plymouth and the performance from start to finish was simply superb, best game we have played at home so far this season and with another clean sheet it is great to have faith in our defence after a season of calamity.

Making it to the match was very difficult (as I was knackered) after I took part in a sponsored walk for a SMBer named FT Maxwell who passed away in Australia last year to raise awareness for Marfans Syndrome. Happily I made it through the 13 mile pier to pier walk and made it into the ground as the Hey Keano song rang out around the ground. The funny thing about today was actually my fingers that were the most tired as I couldn't stop writing notes from as soon as the whistle blew at 3pm. Southend never tested Fulop, who at times looked shaky but dealt with most crosses with ease and the only shot I can remember noting was on 37 minutes as they had a fierce shot that went just over the bar, apart from that it was all Sunderland.

Edwards latched onto a well won flick by John and beat the defender to take the ball close to the by-line; as usual Connolly found the space and simply tapped home the 6th goal in nine games. Keane described the day as a "decent afternoon" and he was not wrong as the chances kept coming and coming with relentless speed and passing all over the park. Simpson who made his home debut made a steady start although a few of him passes were misplaced at times he managed to find the strikers with some decent forward passes. One of his passes into Connolly was touched wide to Whitehead who dinked a ball into John only for his brilliant header to hit the inside of the post and out to safety. It felt like it was going to be one of those afternoons for John who played excellently along with the superb Connolly misses a host of chances in the 1st half.

After a few chances were missed we finally got the 2nd which ultimately killed the game off at a very early period of the game. Whitehead won a great header in the middle to set up Connolly who beautifully chipped his pass into the stride of Toby Hysen. Hysen simply darted past the defender who ended up on his arse only to get up and see Hysen slot the ball home for the 2nd. Most fans have only seen Hysen and Edwards perform to their potential at away games but today we finally seen a balance in the team, and Keane looks to have a settled side which is important for the crucial run in.

The Nyron appreciation club grew in numbers today as he again kept a clean sheet, showed some neat touches and won most of his headers against a very poor Eastwood, he was also rewarded for his reputation by being named deputy skipper when Whitehead was replaced at the end (is there anything he can't do, well apart from pass to strikers feet?). He also bombed forward just before half time by skinning the left back and whipping in a low cross, the shot by Miller was unfortunately blocked by John who thought he was offside, scuffed the shot and was easily collected by Flahavan. John had another two great chances with another low cross by Edwards in the 36m was just out of the T&T strikers reach. The other chance created from the left side saw a lovely cross for John to power the header in only for the keeper to tip over the bar... what has he got to do to score was the question... we didn’t have to wait long to see him on the score sheet though.

The second half started with a slight scare as Evans missed clearance as Bradbury beat the oncoming Fulop but the weakness of the shot could not beat Evans as he cleared to safety. Sunderland pushed on and showed their dominance as we won a free kick on the edge of the box, I would normally mention if we had a penalty shout but you all know the outcome by now. Whitehead took the free kick only to be cleared off the line; it was only a matter of time before we added to our comfortable lead.

As Stokes came on to replace the hard working Hysen the SoL was being greeted by Mexican waves, times are definitely changing if we are doing this compared to when we were down Roots Hall being tortured by a League 1 outfit, its changing but its a welcome change.

By the time I had finished writing my note for the 3rd goal we had gone up the other end and John doubled his goals for the afternoon. Two goals in as many minutes and they were well deserved from Stern who persisted all game and also won my mate £120 for the honour of scoring 1st in the 2nd half. Whitehead drove through their defence and his shot rebounded off the post into John's path for him to tap home. The fourth (I think) was well worked by Miller on the right side and his well guided cross found John to drill home and send the 33,000 Sunderland fans home happy and three points better off.

MoM - Carlos Edwards - Direct, Aggressive, Fast and added to his performance some great deliveries. He looks like a good signing as defenders can not handle his pace.

Clancey Wiggum
AKA - Gary Johnson