Robbed? Points dropped? Played against 12 men for the majority of the game? Were we all witnesses of probably the worst refereeing performance at the Stadium of Light in a very long time? The answer to all of these small questions must be a very big and gut wrenching ‘yes’, as we left the ground amazed that for a team under much pressure for ninety minutes we didn’t manage to kill the game off with our chances and were left to rue their one chance from a set piece.
The game was a weird one as they had a record amount of corners and were allowed to run at our fragile defence time and time again but with all of that pressure they applied, Darren Ward was not at all called upon into the action over the course of the match. The one time Villa did threaten was either through or bad passing from out of defence or when Darren Ward tried to collect the ball but dropped it at Carew’s feet. Other than that their team was set up to get the ball onto the left hand side and see if Young could take on every Sunderland player and whip one into the box. Every time they used this option we looked as though we were comfortable enough to deal with any problem they threw into the box and we could look to capitalise on any of their mistakes by counter attacking.
It was a strange way to play football, especially when we were the home side but we have to remember Aston Villa have a much quicker, stronger at times and organised squad than ours and this was forgotten by a few fans today who wanted constant attacking football. We managed to cut out their major threats, which was a strong talking point before the game in the pubs and in the press, so vitally our team got the main part of today’s game correct in parts only for our hard work, effort and determination to get three points to be ruined by a bald, whistle happy, inconsistent twat named Steve Bennett.
The team Keano selected was again a strange one to work out on the way to the ground as we were told via people mentioning it and getting texts from fans ‘in the pub’, as he dropped a few players and played Whitehead right back again. I can understand Ward still being started in place of Gordon but to move Whitehead back into a position that he does not thrive in is another odd decision by Royston. Etuhu and Yorke played in the middle with Murphy occupying the right wing. Stokes fresh from his ban from ‘The Glass Spider’ was started alongside Jones in a bid to get maximum vital points at home against a Villa side who were short of confidence for their latest defeats in the league. Why was Halford completely dropped, has Keano not seen enough ‘character’ from the £3m purchase? Leadbitter another firm favourite with some fans was also surprisingly dropped onto the bench but became later involved as a late substitute.
As the game started we got the ball down well and involved Jones with a few early chances and our midfield dominated the play in the early stages. We started exactly the way we should always start at home, high tempo and direct with balls coming in from both wings that pressured their defence. Higginbotham came close in the 7th minute but his header was deflected over for another corner. Finally a set piece led to a goal as Ross Wallace floated in a beautiful cross to find the unmarked Higginbotham to nod into the roof of the net and send the 43,000 Mackems wild with delight.
Just what we needed and deserved for a great start. Even Bennett couldn’t see nothing wrong with it although I do think he missed Mcshane sneeze in the direction of Carson which may have prevented him from diving correctly, but we happily took the early goal with pleasure!
This goal allowed Villa to use their only main tactic of getting the ball to Ashley Young’s feet at any given time and letting him inflict some damage on our defence. He is a quick and gifted player and is easily noticeable as a class talent for the future but we managed to hold on and defend numerous corners and crosses that they attempted towards the goal. Our boys at the back won most of the headers and managed to shield the powerful and gangly Norwegian, Carew when he tried to hold the ball up for Agbonlahor but the threat of them scoring an equaliser was always evident. After we rode most of the first half out Jones found himself in space that he created for himself and had room to have a shot, but his effort was weak and central only for the ball to bounce towards Wallace. A great saving tackle by Laursen lead to the ball deflecting off the Scot’s back on towards the waiting Stokes to nod home. On replays it was hard to see if he was offside and even if he was did it not come off the Villa defender as the last touch? It was going to be one of those games as nothing decision wise was going our way and this was before the 2nd half horror show from the Kernt based Steve Bennett and his clown assistants with flags.
Just before the half time whistle Kenwyne found himself with his back towards the goal inside their box, he managed to turn the defender but his shot was deflected wide by a last ditch tackle. Time for the corner that we had rightly earned? No time for Bennett to get in from the icy wind and have a cup of tea! Half-time.
Looking at the scores from around the Country it was vital that Sunderland kept their nerve and pushed on for the second crucial goal that we always need as a safety net over our opponents. Three points today would see us pull away from a few teams and give a bit of breathing space but the game was far from over as the game kicked off in bitter conditions.
Sunderland started as they ended as they closed down Villa well and made some good moves up front but with no real menace towards the England flop Carson. Sunderland created the best early 2nd half chance with Wallace having a decent shot but deflecting off Stokes to give them a chance to come back at us straight away. They continued to bomb forward and threaten with corners but again we managed to deal with each attack with no real danger, which is a massive improvement from Chelsea and Everton defensively speaking. If we manage to press and harass teams like this at home we will always give ourselves a chance of grabbing one or more points that could prove valuable come the end of the season.
The game was being played at a very fast pace but the game decided to be changed from a football game into what can only be described as close to sport as a netball game as every single decision went towards the away team. At one point this spell lasted around 15 minutes as the crowd grew increasingly frustrated with Bennett who simply did not have a clue what he was awarding at times. A simple shoulder barge when Barry touched it a little in front of him was given as a foul and then moments later Carew on the left wing done the same type of body check and this was not given at all, where is the consistency? Especially when these two identical incidents happened in the space of a few minutes…completely baffled by what role linesmen have in Premier league fixtures who may as well not be there if the ref wants to be ‘centre of attention’. The game was fast changing into a comedian role for Bennett, but after a few substitutions from Keane who brought on Leadbitter for Etuhu and Chopra for the anonymous Stokes the real joke was on the Geordie who gifted them possession in a dangerous area.
We had a throw in under no real pressure and even had the chance to use this throw in to attack forwards as a few Villa players were taken out of the game by the throw in being awarded. The ball arrived at Chopra’s feet in acres of space and with the chance to throw some possession into their half, for some reason he decided to touch the ball like an elephant and then turn into trouble. This allowed Villa to advance forward and gift them a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the Sunderland area. This could have been easily avoided if we used our possession well and not mess about with it for no apparent reason. As you can tell by my tone the resulting free kick was slotted in to the top corner ultimately allowing them to grab a very unwanted equaliser. Ward was beaten by the pace and the curl of the free kick but questions may be asked about his positioning and his wall not really doing enough to block the shot from going above their heads.
After the Villa scum was removed from the pitch we carried on with the game looking and hoping for another late revival to grab the points. Chopra added to the comedy value of Bennett by getting away from his marker and getting clipped inside the area but obviously this would be ignored as he was not wearing his favourite colour of claret and blue.
Cole was brought on in place of Wallace as Keane decided to give it one last final push as he could smell that maybe Sunderland could get another last minute winner and he was right to do this as we played our best football in the final ten minutes of the game. We started to pass the ball around well and look comfortable in possession with Jones making some good runs finally around their box. With the minutes (or seconds on the broken scoreboard) remaining Sunderland continued to push towards a second goal with a few crosses not reaching their targets and a corner being awarded in the 92nd minute, could it be?
The ball was floated in perfectly by Leadbitter right into the action below the keepers gloves, Collins nodded the ball home to send our fans into delirium…no….wait…but the players have ran towards the fans to celebrate…has it been given?… yes?….no?… utter confusion around the SoL… no it has been disallowed!
I’m not going to go on about the decision because Keane and the other papers will bore you to death with how wrong it was. It could cost us safety in this division because one man bottled to give a perfectly good goal (this is after seeing it on replays). I am used to it happening against SAFC as the luck never seems to be on our side.
We battle on thanks to the scum keeping us out of the bottom three and can be proud of a display that showed effort and grit to keep us away from the murky depths of the Championship and an improvement against a mid table established Premier league team. We must keep this up at the Madjeski Stadium as we head into yet another ‘six pointer’ but really when you are at the bottom every game can be classed as one of those.
MOM – Danny Collins – Done nothing wrong and was an option going forward
Clancey Wiggum