With the festive period upon us I wanted to look back at our recent record and see how we usually perform around this busy time of year. What I have classed as the festive period for this is the game before Christmas until our first game in January which this year sees us play 4 games in 10 days.
2022/23: CHAMPIONSHIP
HULL CITY 1-1 SUNDERLAND (17/12/22)
SUNDERLAND 2-1 BLACKBURN ROVERS (26/12/22)
WIGAN ATHLETIC 1-4 SUNDERLAND (29/12/22)
BLACKPOOL 1-1 SUNDERLAND (1/1/23)
Mowbray’s Mackems went into the festive period refreshed with the highly anticipated return of Ross Stewart. The lads sat 6th going into the game at Hull with these four games seen as a real test to see if our young squad was capable of competing for a play off spot. With a relatively poor display at Hull rescued by the Loch Ness Drogba, it was Ellis Simms who rescued all three points with a late goal on Boxing Day against Blackburn. Wigan was an interesting one though, with Mowbray naming an extremely rotated team, with many questioning the decision. The game ended up being a real statement of how capable our squad was, even if it was against a poor Wigan side, with goals from Simms, which would be his last before being recalled by Everton, as well as Stewart, Roberts and an Amad Diallo wonder strike, ending the year 4th. A relatively poor display against Blackpool was rescued by Ross Stewart on New Years Day, meaning that we fell back down to 6th but a pretty solid points total of eight points from the four games.
2021/22: LEAGUE ONE
IPSWICH TOWN 1-1 SUNDERLAND (18/12/21)
DONCASTER ROVERS 0-3 SUNDERLAND (27/12/21)
SUNDERLAND 5-0 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (30/12/21)
WYCOMBE WANDERERS 3-3 SUNDERLAND (8/12/21)
Sunderland again went unbeaten in the Christmas run in and again picked up eight points from four, this time with Lee Johnson in the hotseat. Nathan Broadhead put us ahead against the club he currently plays for but Wes Burns got Ipswich a point. Due to Sky selection, we would play on the 27th instead of Boxing Day with an easy win against Doncaster. That was followed by a 5-0 battering of Sheffield Wednesday with a Ross Stewart hat-trick, a Callum Doyle header and even a Benji Kimpioka goal helping us breeze past the Owls. Doubt many would have thought a month on we would be looking for a new manager off the back of a 6-0 humiliation to Bolton. Wycombe was a strange one with the squad hit with a COVID outbreak which saw Patterson recalled from his loan at Notts County to make his first league start. Despite Ross Stewart’s brace and a Stockdale own goal, we conceded in the 98th minute to cost us what would have been three wins in a row.
2020/21: LEAGUE ONE
SUNDERLAND 1-1 AFC WIMBLEDON (15/12/20)
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0-0 SUNDERLAND (2/1/21)
In the season that many people forget about, with fans forced to watch from home due to COVID, there was a winter break meaning that there were no games in between Christmas Day and the New Year. The two games that were played were extremely forgettable with Bailey Wright getting us a point against AFC Wimbledon before a bore draw against Northampton.
2019/20: LEAGUE ONE
SUNDERLAND 1-1 BLACKPOOL (14/12/19)
SUNDERLAND 0-0 BOLTON (26/12/19)
DONCASTER ROVERS 1-2 SUNDERLAND (29/12/19)
FLEETWOOD TOWN 1-1 SUNDERLAND (1/1/20)
Another season that many will have forgotten about with a horrible mix of Jack Ross and Phil Parkinson was the 2019/20 season. Sunderland opened the festive period with 2 draws at home, with Charlie Wyke’s goal against Blackpool the last at the SOL in 2019. We did end the year with a win though, with Lynden Gooch and Chris Maguire getting us the three points. We began 2020 with a draw to Fleetwood, which was in fact 1-1, the outcome of three of our first four meetings against the Cods, with a late Maguire penalty saving us from defeat.
The festive season seems to be a pretty good period for us on paper, with our last defeat in that period away at Portsmouth on the 22nd December 2018 and our last defeat on Boxing Day going all the way back to 2017 against Sheffield United. Hopefully it is another enjoyable period for the Mackems and we start the year with back-to-back wins…
