This was a bit of an improvement on last week but still wasn’t good enough and after four defeats in a row things are looking decidedly grim.
BEFORE
A play-off place looks well beyond us now especially after the news of Clarke’s injury but I don’t share the view of some that we’re doomed to relegation. As we’ve usually done better against the stronger sides than those nearer the bottom, hope is starting to rear its ugly head that we might get a result this afternoon. I’d like to see Rigg get more playing time and I was thinking yesterday about that great goal that he scored against Southampton after Bennette had pirouetted all over the place and crossed to him. Did they ever play together again? Anyway, I still like the look of Mundle and I also rate Rusyn so I don’t think goals are beyond us. I’m back in Sunderland and will be with my bubble to listen to the game. Match prediction: 1-1.
When I got the team-news, I saw that Mundle and Hemir were starting in place of Ba and Rusyn, who were on the bench in the company of Rigg and one or two names I didn’t recognise. My friends' match predictions were 2-1 and 2-1, to us of course.
THE MATCH
I was pleased to hear that we were playing in red and white. The opening ten minutes or so were even enough and neither side had a serious effort on goal. Then things got a lot more lively with both sides winning a corner and Ekwah having a decent shot on target that was saved by the Norwich keeper, Angus Gunn. Around twenty minutes in a Mundle header wasn’t far wide and next thing we were awarded a free-kick near the left angle of their box but Ekwah’s shot was well wide. Norwich were awarded a kick in a very similar position which came to nothing and then they won a corner.
Patto saved well in the twenty-fifth minute when a Sainz shot from outside the box was heading for the top-right corner. As we passed the half-hour mark we were still in it and we’d certainly done better than the first half-hour of last week. Five minutes later we put together our best move so far but Hemir was just too late to get on the end of an O’Nien pass in the box, perhaps the conditions had an effect on how fast the ball travelled across the box. Mundle tried a long-distance shot about five minutes before the break but it went well wide. Hume was booked for a foul as half-time approached. With a minute or so to go Norwich were awarded a free-kick not far outside our box on the left but it floated well wide of our right post and that was just about it for the first period apart from a Gabriel Sara shot in added-time that went over. I thought we’d done okay so far but I still wanted Rigg and Rusyn to come on before too long.
There were no changes, as usual, as we kicked off again, but Norwich started off more brightly and Ashley Barnes had a header that wasn’t far wide. Patto saved well again in the fifty-fourth when he deflected a powerful Sara shot out for a corner. Ekwah was booked for what BBC Sport always call a bad foul but as we passed the hour-mark it remained goalless and a decent result for us remained a real possibility. As we approached the final quarter of the match we brought on Ba for Mundle and Rusyn for Hemir, who hadn’t had much of a look in by the sound of it.
With twenty minutes on the clock Stacey had a decent shot that flew outside our post. Next thing we created a really good chance after Dan Neil started to come forward a bit more, he played a clever ball out to Hume who had lots of space but the ball into the box was behind Styles who was rushing in and he couldn’t get a good shot off. Rigg came on for Styles with about a quarter of an hour to go. We were still trying to press, which had caused them issues earlier in the game and of course I hoped we could nick one as we neared the final ten minutes. Rusyn had a shot that wasn’t far wide but then Sargent smashed the ball high into the net from six yards out to put Norwich ahead when he received a pass from Gibson and we allowed the ball to bounce in our penalty area a few times. An air of gloom descended around us but I still held out dreams of an equaliser. In the eighty-sixth we brought on Burstow for Jobe and let’s just say that I found my dreams were dissipating. Five minutes of added-time were announced and apart from a Rusyn header which was easily saved by Gunn we didn’t look like scoring and it ended in a 1-0 defeat.
