Ten Lads dressed in red,
one Lad wearing green,
climbed the steps and took the cup,
for Bob ,
and them,
and me.

That’s what the FA Cup is all about – those few lines from the song I Couldn’t Get A Ticket For The Game sound much better than they read (you have to do it slowly, with gaps in the right places) get me every time. With O’Neill’s lack of success as a player and manager in this competition, and his positive attitude towards it, we are right to feel enthusiastic about the Cup. Boro, whatever we may think, consider it a derby, and fair enough. I’ve spent all week looking forward to it, recalling cup runs of the past (yeah, I know there haven’t been that many, but I’ve been around ages and enjoyed the few that there have been), and prophesising on what might be come that famous date in early May.

There was also the reserves on Tuesday night, with my first sighting of Craig Gordon in ages, and Fraizer Campbell in even longer. The former did well enough, but Mr Campbell got through 80 minutes apparently sound in both mind and body, having displayed a blistering turn of pace and a complete lack of nerves as he clattered into Bolton defenders bigger than he. For the record, we won 1-0 thanks to Craig Lynch – another impressive display alongside Meyler and behind Ji – in front of over 700 fans. Also there was the Blessed Martin, who appeared in the tunnel and then scaled the fence to stand exactly where Bruce had stood at previous games – then climbed back through the fence at half time to get a beef flavoured drink.

Just to keep my football fix going, I took in Bishop 5 Billingham Town 0, and included the most optimistic centre half in the world – Bishop’s free-scoring Andy Johnson through with just the keeper to beat, so right under the ref’s nose and inside the box, the number 5 threw him to the ground. Penalty, red card, goal. What else did he expect to happen? Mind you, after that penalty the Town keeper stopped about fifty shots, so you never know.

And then something happens to remind you that it’s only a game, with the awful news about Ian Laws. I only met him a few times, on trains to away games (even nicking his seat once) but the Echo man came across as a decent bloke who loved Sunderland, had an impressive knowledge of the club, and regarded his as the dream job – one of us. I can do nothing more than add my condolences to the long list that already exist.

So Boro came to town for a breath of fresh air, we had an early start and were, for the second time this year, knocking on Fitzy’s door clamming for a pint and something to fill in for Sunday dinner. Job done, in came the news that Catts had done his hamstring in training and wouldn’t be playing. As it turned out, that was probably the single biggest influence on the outcome.

Ming
Bards Brown O’Shea Rico
Larsson Vaughan Gardner McLean
Sess Wickham

..and a strong bench of Westy, Meyler, Turner, Colback, Ji, and Elmo.

With a poor turnout from the home fans – which is the norm for the FA Cup these days – Boro got in the first shot after a couple of minutes, and our final ball was just too far away from the front man when we did get forward. After ten minutes we got a sort of grip on the game and Sess got in a cross from inside right which Larsson headed past the front post, then McLean won a corner and things started to look a bit brighter. However, it all went a bit Pete Tong when O’Shea made a mess of a pass out, then couldn’t clear his lines, and the ball dropped to their left side and in came a tremendous volley for 0-1. Great shot, wrong team.

Sess and Gards played a nice one-two and the latter volleyed a foot over the top, but for most of the half our short passing, particularly in the centre of the field, was not good enough. We did win a few corners, we did get a few efforts in (mostly off target) but we didn’t really put their keeper under any pressure. Several times we put in crosses that were too deep, but with seven minutes to half time, Gardner went round the defence and slotted it across the keeper for what we thought was 1-1. Despite the ref missing what looked like it might have been a handball by Gards (confirmed by text), the linesman gave Wickham offside, even though he didn’t touch the ball, and he wasn’t in the keeper’s line of sight – in short, not interfering with play.

Boro’s one consistent theme was the foul, which they managed to keep going for ninety minutes, and it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see a couple of red cards.

Half time, and they being ahead was a bit upsetting but we had only ourselves to blame – you can’t plan for goals like theirs, so you should make sure to get a few of your own.

Wickham, who’d looked injured for the latter part of the first half, didn’t reappear, replaced by Campbell, and things lifted. Fraizer continued where he’d left off for the reserves and looked pretty damned sharp. McLea, who’d been asked to chase balls played over the top in the first 45, began to receive it on the deck, and thus looked more effective – also managing a great chase back and tackle. Brown was hurt as he conceded a corner, and with him off the field, we cleared the ball, played McLean down the left, and he did cut inside to pass invitingly in front of Campbell. Young Fraizer showed good composure to fire past the keeper for the equaliser, sparking relief in the crowd and the appearance of several thousand polis around the pitch – as if we were going to run 100 yards to get at the visiting fans.

The game really came to life after that goal, and there looked like there was only to be one winner. Turner was on for Brown, Sess and Gardner both had driving runs into the box thwarted by the Boro defence, and Vaughan saw his right foot shot deflected and saved. A Bardsley cross from deep was headed over by Campbell, McLean ran at his fullback and got crosses in, but we still didn’t hit the target. As they swapped keepers, we replaced Vaughan, who’d been well battered, with Colback with ten to go, and, apart from a few breaks by Boro, we had them on the back foot for the rest of the game. Four added minutes were announced, and Sess ran across the box again, this time finding McLean on the left. The winger moved in and fired into the side netting to make the last real contribution to the game – apart from another couple of fouls by Boro.

So a disappointing result and a trip to Teesside - surely we can sing “I wanna go home” with less irony than the smoggies did today.

Man of the Match? Ming had no chance with the goal, Bards did well to survive a life-threatening challenge, and Rico didn’t have his best game defensively but came forward OK. The centre halves, all three of them, had their moments, but the central midfield looked a bit loose in the first half. Wickham looked crocked for most of his time on the field, while Sess was Sess – lively, strong, and eager. It was a pleasure to see an apparently fully fit Campbell put in a really good shift, and Colback had a decent time as well. The wide men grew into the game, making some telling defensive contributions, and McLean’s second half was impressive, setting up the goal, so I’ll give it to him.

Keep the Faith

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