A proper see-saw cup-tie saw Sunderland's second (ish) string bounce back twice to book their place in the next round of the League cup courtesy of an O'Brien hat-trick
One of those special nights that, on paper, didn't look to have much going for it at half seven, but by half nine was as pulsating a cup-tie as you could wish for.
An unscheduled overheating incident on Bowes Moor, adjacent to the memorial to Eric Bloodaxe, one of Judith's less savoury ancestors, who died in AD954 in a rather unpleasant manner, gave us an hour to catch some rays. Anyway, after a chat with the alpacas and a fresh intake of water, we were back en route and immediately got a couple of calls from supporters offering to pick us up - the power of farmers on social media.
Blackpool by half five, a dodgy Spoons pint, then out to the Saddle, Bass, and fish n chips from next door which me and Russ scoffed on the way to the ground.
Patterson
Huggins Wright (c) Alves Cirkin
Winchester Neil Diamond
Pritchard
O'Brien Broadhead
It might have been a side containing several who'd not played together (Huggins, Broadhead, Cirkin) but the style and movement that is now our trademark was apparent from the off as we, in our yellow and blue kit, attacked the far end. Despite this, we allowed a Blackpool break down our left and when the ball came into the box Pato had no chance as it was poked past him for 0-1.
Thankfully, this didn't cause anyone's head to go down, and we passed it patiently across the back as we looked for an opening. Pritch buzzed about behind a standard front two, and a mere three minutes after falling behind, Dan Neil provided the telling ball into the box for O'Brien to steer beyond the keeper at the near post to level things and send the sizeable visiting support into raptures- and shutting up that bloody drum for a while.
We continued to move the ball well, making a mockery of the division difference between the two sides, and we had a great chance to go ahead when Wright clipped it over the home defence and into the path of O'Brien. With a clear run on goal in the inside-left channel, he contrived to drag his right-footed effort a couple of yards wide of the near post. Aw man, a great chance to put us ahead fluffed.
There was a single added minute, and we spent half time grumbling about the fact that we were level when we'd been the better side and had that chance to be ahead.
No changes for the second half, and we pushed forward at the goal in front of the noisy visiting fans. After several promising moves that foundered on the home defence, we won a corner on the right, which was hit deep, over the heads of everyone. O'Brien collected it out the back, and hit a bouncer across the keeper and in at the far post. Magic, and once again the visiting fans erupted in celebration.
Ten minutes of frantic action later, Embo and Stewart replaced Pritch and Broadhead, and a few minutes after that Alves, up for a corner, clattered into the post and his leg went into cramp. He rolled back onto the pitch (not summat I'm in favour of) to stop play, and after a bit of foot-twisting, limped off to be replaced by Doyle. By now the home side were pushing us back, and a deflected shot brought the best out of Pato, who was sharply down to his right to maintain our lead.
With three to go, however, we messed things up. Doyle tried a short one to Neil's feet on halfway when carrying it out of our defence in the left, instead of clipping it over the top and turning the defence. Blackpool broke forward, and Tyreece John-Jules (yes, the cat's nephew) fed Bowler to level things.
Bugger. So near to the end, but we weren't finished. Oh no, not us. A minute into the four (I think) that were added, Diamond found the space to play it to O'Brien in the box, and the finish was as clinical as it was opportunistic, leaving the keeper flat-footed and making it a proper cup-tie score.
We saw out the remaining couple of minutes thanks to some resolute defending, a couple of daft fouls by Blackpool, and an off-side, with the final whistle seeing our Lads drop to the turf, absolutely spent. A great result and a deserved win, thanks to 100% effort and commitment all over the field. The support was duly acknowledged by the players, with at least one shirt being given to a fan - presumably the cost will come out if the player's wages. Only joking.
Man of the Match? Score three in a game in which we came from behind and recovered from being pegged back in the dying minutes - it can only be O'Brien.
Great stuff Lads - one of those games which you'll remember fondly in years to come as a special occasion.
