SOBS V SPURS

At what felt like the start of a new season thanks to our special gloating break, the Lads welcomed Spurs to Wearside and edged a jittery game thanks to Mukiele's deflected effort on the hour. Spurs? There's something seriously wrong in the mentality of a lot of their players and are in real danger of 18th.

Naturally, there was the potential for New Manager/Coach Bounce for the visitors, but we could match that with memories of our last game. Bounce Bounce, and the likes of Mukiele, Le Fee, Roefs, and Reinildo had time to fully recover from their various injuries, while Brobbey has probably been spending more time in the gym in an effort to beef up a bit. Fans from all over the world have been converging on Sunderland for the last few days to celebrate International Fans' Day to emphasise our global appeal and add a bit of cosmopolitan flair to the game.

In a blustery afternoon with sunny spells and a smattering of splattering and scattering showers, we lined up:

Roefs

Mukiele Alderete O'Nien Reinildo

Xhaka (c) Sadiki Diarra

Le Fee Brobbey Rigg

... and a bench of Ellborg, Hume, Cirkin, Geertruida, Isidor, Mayenda, Jen. Jones, H. Jones, and Talbi.

... and and with a packed away end, we belted out Wise Men Say and yellow Spurs kicked off. Diarra spent a good part of the early exchanges just behind Brobbey, but the first real action was a break down the Spurs left - which came to nothing. There was a comfy save by Roefs from Richardson, then we broke and won a corner in the right - and Xhaka's inswinger was tipped over for a repeat on the left by Enzo - and there was no wrestling! A clever ball into the box by Enzo was a yard to far for BB, who sensibly ignored my screams of "Tek his head off!" as hoofing keepers is apparently illegal these days.

Our French wizard was involved moments later, when his dinked cross was headed over by BB when didn't know Rigg was perfectly placed behind him. On 20 came the half's first talking point as a foul in Reinildo was ignored and a free for him grabbing the ball. Into the box it went, there was a tussle on the line and their man threw himself to the floor. Penalty. VAR, free kick to us but no card for diving - to be fair, had the ref been dishing out cards for diving the visitors could have been down to eight men by half two.

After another Spurs corner on 25, the ref allowed a good advantage before booking their man and giving us the free- which Nordi dived onto to head wide at the back post. Close. Luke came to the left to launch a long throw and when it dropped to Xhaka at the far side, his low effort was a foot wide of the keeper's right hand post.

A shameful dive by a Spurs lead to a yellow for an elbow that never happened after the pull on BB was missed, as the ref went from the sublime to the ridiculous- and not for the last time. Five minutes later Brobbey chased Nordi's through ball, and was pulled down on the edge - yellow card, but Xhaka blasted the free way over. We conceded a daft corner with a couple of minutes to go as neither of our fullbacks shone defensively - okay going forward but never completely comfortable the other way.

The five added minutes brought a bit of lively football from us, with BB taking Xhaka's free and having a shot saved and the follow-up was blocked. A Spurs corner came when Roefs saved at the foot of the post but the visitors didn't seem interested in attacking anything spherical.

0-0 at the break - fair enough.

No changes for us for the second half, and the lack of quality football continued, ending with a superb Luke challenge on the edge of our box. Enzo then passed up a shooting opportunity to lay it into the box, but BB was crowded out before we attacked again and Sadiki fired over. A weak effort from Richarlison was easy for Roefs and it seemed you fire us up a bit in the hour. Mukiele went on a gallop, turned infield and (having probably been told at halftime that if you don't shoot you don't score) hit a left-footer that took a git big deflection and looped into the net with the keeper going the wrong way. Yeehah!

A brilliant tackle by Rigg at right back set us off again and Brobbey charged into the box, where his marker and keeper collided. Probably helped into each other by Brian, but it gave us five minutes break as the pair were patched up - the defender limping off.

Five minutes later Rigg was carded for a pull on halfway as the ref had a daft moment, having ignored identical offences in the minutes before. We chose the wrong pass on 77, putting it right when left would have been better and the keeper was there first. With ten to go it got a bit lively for us and we won a corner as Spurs defenders challenged each other - their heads looked gone. A shot was blocked, Nordi made way for Hume and Rigg for Talbi.

Eleven added minutes weren't really a surprise, but I could have done without them. A card for Hume brought a free near the corner flag, which Roefs tipped over. The resultant corner was taken short and the cross - well, a lucky Spurs fan probably caught it.

Brobbey made way for Issy, Spurs looked sick of their lives, and the whistle eventually went.

Man of the Match? Rigg was superb, but just pipping him is Diarra who had his best game in ages.