The ridiculously cold weather couldn’t stop the party with Marty, as Sunderland gained an excellent three points in what was ultimately a poor game in awful conditions. Martin O’Neill said: “It was a great result for us, especially as the conditions were so desperately poor and they were deteriorating by the minute. I'm delighted that when we got the goal the referee saw fit to let the game continue and we went on to get the three points. In the first half the snow seemed to brush off, but then in the second half it got worse by the minute. However, I don't think that the referee was ever going to stop the game. It was a different game than the players are used to playing in - they just had to adapt. It's delightful to get the three points on the board as they are very important to us and it's a great win for all of the fans who travelled down to watch us play. We have given them something to cheer about on the way home."
Meanwhile, Tony Pulis believes that, despite Robert Huth kicking him up a height, David Meyler cheated to get the defender sent off. Ridiculous. Pulis said: “I think Robert commits himself them pulls out, and I don't think he actually touches Meyler, or whatever his name is, and I'm really disappointed at the player's reaction. I don't think Robert actually touches the lad, and the way he goes down and rolls around, for me he's done it for one reason and that was to get him sent off. If it was a really bad challenge and you get caught, and I've seen some of them this year, then you can say that was a really poor, poor tackle, you've caught him and he stays down then fair enough. But when you see him doing that, the referee might have reacted a little differently today if the kid had got up and been honest about the challenge. It was a tough game, the last two games we've played at the Britannia, the West Brom game was gale force winds and ruined the game as a spectacle and today conditions were very difficult for both sets of players. It was a lottery at times, but the sending off was and will be the talking point about the game, we're desperately disappointed."
However, O’Neill believes the sending off was the correct decision, saying: “I thought at the time it looked a nasty challenge. I haven't seen it back but our players are convinced it was a red card, and with the new directives now enforced, I thought initially it was, obviously Tony [Pulis] is going to have a different viewpoint, but the referees now are going to be pretty adamant about this."
MON then expanded on just how terrible the conditions were, though the fact I still can’t feel my toes and can barely type this should say it all. The gaffer said: “Naturally [I’m] delighted to win the game, the conditions were pretty atrocious and they got worse as the game went on, I was just very pleased to have finished the game. I think I have played and managed in conditions every bit as bad as that, but it's a difficult decision for everyone once the game starts and it's been going underway and it was okay or reasonably okay at the start. Obviously as the game progresses and conditions get worse it gets more difficult to make decisions, but naturally we are delighted the game continued on after we had scored in it. In the last 20 minutes of the game, the players were saying that the snow had really settled in the ground and then it becomes difficult. It becomes difficult to control the ball, it becomes difficult to run with the ball and you can run past it if you are dribbling with it, and it makes it a bit farcical. I thought we attempted to handle them [the conditions] as well as possible and in the end it was a great win for us."
John O’Shea was also full of praise after a win in testing conditions. The Irishman said: “It ranks up there with some of the most difficult games I've played in. It was very icy, a little bit slippy and there was a bitter wind as well, but we coped with the conditions very well. We knew it was going to be tough against Stoke - it always is, no matter what the weather is - but today that just added to it! It was a fantastic three points for us in the end. The dressing room was buzzing after the game, playing at Stoke is never easy, they are a very good team with very good players and they make it difficult for you. Even though they were down to ten men they made it very difficult for us. Maybe if we had been a little more clinical in the second half we could have had a few more breakaways and caused them a few more problems. However, not many teams will be able to say they have beaten Stoke twice in a season. Now we're looking forward to the next few big games we've got coming up."
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