After Monday night’s capitulation we’re all in need of a boost so of course I’m hoping we’ll get a result this afternoon. Hull have been struggling and are currently fourth off the bottom.
They’ve conceded almost two goals a game so we’ve got to fancy our chances of getting one or two especially if Stewart plays some part, as seems likely. We’ll have to do a lot better in midfield than we did against the Baggies as we let them overrun us in the second-half. I’ll be listening to the game in the company of my Sunderland bubble and my match prediction is a 2-1 win for us.
I got the team-news around 2.00 and saw that Clarke was starting in place of Pritchard, who was presumably injured, while Stewart, Ballard and Bennette were all on the bench. When I met up with the bubble, their predictions were:- 2-1, 2-1 and 2-0, to us of course.
There was a minute’s applause before the match got underway and I always enjoy that end of year ritual. It looked like Amad had clearly been fouled in the third minute as he approached their box but referee Gavin Ward wasn’t having any of it. I wondered if we’d break our corner duck today but when we were awarded a free-kick almost at the corner-flag it produced the usual negative result. Hull won the first corner in the eleventh minute but we eventually got it clear thanks to a good save from Patterson. Batth was down injured for a while and was replaced by Ballard.
We won our first corner but I think you can guess what the result was. Just after the midway point a header by Estupinan that went just wide was the first real goalscoring attempt. We seem to be slipping back into the awful habit of passing it backwards and sideways too much. The accuracy of our passing also left a lot to be desired. Hull had a good attacking period just after the half-hour but we survived, though we’d threatened very little ourselves so far.
With six minutes to the break Simms was set up with a great chance as he ran into the box but he shot wide of the right post. Three minutes later Amad went closer with a low shot from the edge of the box so things were looking up at any rate. As half-time approached my mates were discussing which soap stars had had plastic surgery and one said that he was finding that topic more interesting than the match. We did win several corners actually but made nothing of them and it remained goalless at the break.
We wondered what changes would be made and whether we’d do what we did against Millwall in the second-half or whether Hull would do what West Brom did to us the other night. Three minutes into the second period we conceded a penalty and as Patterson dived the right way Estupinan hit his kick just right of the right hand post to much rejoicing among our group.
In the fifty-fifth there was a hefty clash and as a result Embleton eventually got a red card for ‘violent conduct’ and he was also carried off injured, though there was some confusion about this. At the same time we made a triple switch bringing on Stewart, Cirkin and Roberts for Simms, Alese and Clarke. With twenty minutes to go we agreed that a draw would be a decent result in the circumstances but I still fancied Stewart to nick one for us. In the seventy-fourth minute he did just that when he ran on to a long ball from Roberts on the half-way line and slipped it coolly past goalie Ingram. Cue – great joy. Could we hang on to it, though? I felt that we could but there was bound to be a good deal of stoppage-time and that was going to be nervy.
With eight minutes to go Hull drew level when Tufan lobbed it past Patterson from close range so it was going to be even nervier. We brought on Ba for Amad shortly afterwards. Hull were doing most of the pressing as we approached the ninetieth minute and I was expecting six minutes of stoppage-time. As Hull won a corner eight minutes were announced and I felt the need to change into my brown trousers, which I always carry with me for such times. We were on the back foot most of the time from there on in but Patterson was looking solid and we held out well for a draw.
This wasn’t much of a spectacle but an away draw isn’t to be sniffed at especially with ten men and it was great to see Stewart back and doing what he does best.
