The other night I was discussing with a couple of friends the possibility of Simms returning to Everton and we concluded that it was unlikely to happen... Anyway, as Broadhead has also returned to them from Wigan I'm hoping that he'll end up having another spell with us.
Our spirits are high after two good wins and I think we'll get another result today. Blackpool are currently second bottom of the league and have leaked plenty of goals so even without Simms, I think we'll manage to get a couple. When Roberts came on on Thursday he made a significant contribution so it would be great to see him getting a start this afternoon. Hopefully Evans will be back but if not, Matete adds some steel to our midfield. I'll be listening to the game on SAFSEE and my match prediction is a 2-1 win for us.
I got the team-news around 2.15 and there were two changes with Stewart and Roberts replacing Simms and Ba. Evans was on the bench and Pritchard wasn't included. Top-scorer Jerry Yates, a player we're interested in signing apparently, was only on the bench for them.
I got SAFSEE on and our fans were making a big racket as they flanked commentators Barnes and Benno. There was a minute of loud applause for Pele and then we were off. Blackpool started more brightly and Poveda had a good effort on target in the fourth minute but we managed to block it. I was pleased to hear our fans chanting, “Huuuuuuuume” in a Gooooooooooch style. Blackpool won the first corner of the match and we cleared it but we needed to get a grip on the game. Connolly received the first yellow of the match for a foul.
We suddenly had a good chance in the eleventh minute but Amad's pass was slightly overhit and Roberts couldn't get on the end of it. Five minutes later a Clarke shot curled just wide of a post and we were getting into it a lot more. Poveda was sounding a handful and he's played with Barcelona and Man City in his time. Next thing Michut was booked for a tug on Poveda but from the ensuing free-kick Patterson easily held Hamilton's header. In the twenty-first minute Blackpool took the lead after a quick break when Hume let Lavery have far too much time and he shot under Patterson into the bottom left-hand corner (or the centre of the goal according to BBC Sports).
Benno said that we needed to speed things up a bit and were too sloppy. Referee Tim Robinson wasn't taking any crap and he booked Poveda for diving in our box. Roberts went down injured but thankfully he managed to get up and continue to take part. Roberts was switched to the right with Amad coming into the centre. Half an hour gone and we hadn't really come to life while Blackpool were certainly making a fight of it. We won our first corner not long afterwards and it was played in low but Blackpool broke quickly, though Neil saved the day. Clarke then had a shot on target but Maxwell in goal saved. Blackpool were sounding the likelier side to score but in stoppage-time a left-foot Amad shot hit the crossbar. It remained 1-0 at the break and I hoped a good talking to from Mowbray and a change or two would result in a much better second-half performance. We definitely needed to stop Poveda running the show and swapping Michut for Evans would probably help with that. Still, with only one goal in it there was every chance we could get a result.
When the game restarted we'd made no changes. Blackpool started brightly again and we had to defend a free-kick early on. Wright collided with a post but he was okay. The post had to receive treatment before managing to continue. We'd been giving the ball away far too much and were still doing this. Amad won another corner when Maxwell turned his shot out and that was our best effort so far. We finally had Blackpool rattled and needed to capitalise on it. Roberts was tripped in their box but the ref wasn't having it. I suppose three penalties in three matches was going to be unlikely. The game was going end to end as the hour-mark approached and our fans were making plenty of noise again. In the sixty-second minute we replaced Michut but it was Ba coming on. I was impressed by his powerful runs the other night so we needed a few more of them. Michut had been given the runaround by Poveda. A great run by Clarke led to Stewart hitting the bar but the whistle went for offside anyway. I felt a goal coming any minute and we were really having a go. As soon as I typed that we equalised in the sixty-sixth when Clarke and Hume combined before Stewart headed home. I'd have been happy with 1-1 but felt we could go on to win as we'd got Blackpool on the back-foot.
Given Blackpool's current predicament they'd also be going for the three points so we'd have to cut out any sloppiness. O'Nien was booked and then Yates replaced Lavery so we'd have a chance to see what he was made of – I just hoped he didn't impress too much. We won another corner in the seventy-sixth minute but it was cleared. We were doing most of the pressing and Stewart just failed to get on the end of an Amad cross after a good run. With ten minutes on the clock I was wondering if we were going to make another change or two. A foul throw by Blackpool was greeted with the old favourite, “What the fuckin' 'ell was that?”
Five minutes to go and the momentum was all with us. Clarke, who's come in for a fair bit of criticism of late, was playing a stormer. I doubted there'd be too much stoppage-time and then five minutes were announced so we could still nick a win. Connolly got a second yellow and then a red and that of course was all to the good for us. We pressed right till the end, winning a corner at the death but it ended 1-1 to much applause all round and choruses of “I'm Sunderland till I die.”.
This was a fair result as we sounded below par in the first-half before a much improved performance in the second. Two wins and a draw in three festive season outings is a good achievement considering all the changes we had to make.
