Before
I’m on a Grand Central train hurtling through Doncaster on my way to tonight’s match. After Saturday’s bummer we’re all hoping to see the other Sunderland return to restore our good humour. We know that Bent is out but Campbell is a decent replacement and if he’d had a bit more match practice, he would probably have put away one of his good chances against Brum. No doubt we’ll be fielding our strongest side but Villa sound like they’re well up for it too and will be bringing in excess of two thousand fans. It’s going to be tight but I think we’ll shade it though I can see it going to extra-time, which doesn’t leave much room for quiz night in the Chesters, but first things first.

The Match
There was very little activity on the south side of the bridge as I headed over from Fitzgerald’s but there were big queues outside the ground what with the cash turnstiles and non-posted tickets. I got in ten seconds after the kick-off and the place looked half-full with the Villa fans making most of the racket. I’ll keep this rather brief but we should really have won this game and I’m beginning to wonder if Richardson is trying to win an unpopularity contest as following his crucial red card at Old Trafford he failed to pass to Malbranque a few minutes from the end of extra-time when they were two on one with the goalie and elected to shoot instead. It cannoned off Guzan and our second golden chance to win went begging. The best of course was Kenwyne’s penalty miss seven minutes from normal time when he shot weakly to Guzan’s right and he saved quite easily. Kenwyne hadn’t been very effective until late in the game as he’d been repeatedly outjumped by the Villa defence but he managed to get better. It was one of those nights when you knew we were never going to get a goal but our defending and approach play was good and it was certainly a cut above last Saturday’s performance. Our best efforts came from Henderson who had three great shots from distance, the best coming in the dying seconds of the first half. The back four, which included Nos and Da Silva, was impressive for most of the game but in midfield most of us wondered what Murphy was doing on from the beginning. We looked much more dangerous when Reidy finally replaced him with around twenty minutes to go. Cana was class and he produced some real Roy of the Rovers stuff as he stormed down the middle while Campbell impressed me too and he seems good at heading very low balls and then sprinting on to them. There was a good deal of chesting the ball tonight and Da Silva was the main proponent of this. The penalties were a disaster and if you fail to score from four in a match, you really can’t expect much sympathy. Gordon saved one of theirs but we lost 3-1 in the end. Actually the team got a good ripple from the crowd as they went off and the Villa fans, most of whom had paid £15 for a return coach-ride and a football match that they somehow won, were understandably going doolally. Anyway, it’s after 11.30 and my friends, whose internet access I’m using, want to go to bed soon so I’ll say goodbye till the West Ham match. I hope Bent will play so we can score again.

ALS Books click here