When writing this report I was really tempted just to copy and paste the last exciting and interesting report that I wrote from the last, equally exciting and interesting home game. Change the opposition, change the names and there you have it, a perfect reflection of yesterday’s game. Effort but no end product, resolve but no quality, possession but no imagination, a goal for the opposition, none for us.
If it was predictable before yesterday’s game, it now seems like it has become the norm. Fans and players turn up expecting nowt, get nowt, go home, come back again the next week and so the cycle continues. The only way it’s going to be broken, sadly, is when we are relegated and this could come within the next week, not a moment too soon. It has come to the stage where this is almost going to come as a welcome relief. A break, perhaps, from that oh so exciting and interesting norm.
But, as expected, that didn’t come yesterday as business continued as normal. Although we had a couple of key players returning from injury and a changed strike partnership (if you can call them that) of Stead and Brown it was same old, same old, although, for a while, it looked as if this game might be different. The Lads came out with a bit of passion and did threaten the Blackburn goal but, on the 15 minute mark, Stephen Reid picked the ball up on the half-way line, ran at our defence who parted like the red sea, allowing him to make his way to the edge of the box and fire straight through Davis. Sunderland were, once again, behind and, once again, the game was dead. A lack of imagination, creativity and any real footballing ability meant that all the Lads could muster was a few tame efforts from outside the box.
And the second half didn’t see much improvement either. It was more of the same as Sunderland failed to create much in the way of chances. Like many other away teams that have visited the SOL this season, Blackburn could afford to stay in first gear and cruised their way through another tedious second half. Chris Brown had a great chance to level thing up 20 minutes into the half as he broke away, went one-on-one with the keeper, but looked very nervous and ended up rolling the ball straight at the advancing Friedel. A couple of substitutions were made after that, with Kyle and Lawrence replacing Stead and Delap respectively but they made no difference. Balckburn were doing enough to stay ahead and that wasn’t going to change. The only real moment of interest came when Sunderland won a free-kick on the edge of the Blackburn box. The Ref, who was poor throughout, took the wall back what he thought was ten yards. However, Julio, having other ideas, measured out this distance twice, only taking 6 or 7 of his little steps each time. The ref, not for the first time, bottled making a decision either way and the game was left to continue. The Lads had a last minute penalty shout turned down and then that was it, another loss.
No side in the history of the league has ever gone a season without a home win but, with every game, it looks like we will be the first. Another unwanted record to add to our ever-increasing selection.
Man of the Match: Grant Leadbitter
Matthew Woolston
