The Robins of Bristol entered the lair of the Black Cats and nicked a point in a wind-influenced game. We had the lion's share of the chances, hitting the bar in both halves, but should really have won by two or more. Mid-table obscurity beckons.
Several weeks after the waves of hope and expectations crashed on the rocks of reality, we're left with a season that's going nowhere but mid-table obscurity. There has obviously been a-mumbling and a-grumbling about who should take the reins in the summer, while some have even suggested getting shot of Dodds and co. immediately and handing it all to Speakman. Basically, "this is your squad, you pick a team and set it up to win." Perhaps unfortunately, that ain't gonna happen - which is a symptom of the moral decay that's gnawing at the heart of Sun'lun - as even Pep would struggle make a silk purse out of this particular sow's arse.
Just win us a few games and do something to put a smile back on our faces, please - being a bit happy that nobody got booked or injured on Monday just isn't enough. What did put a smile on Ruddy's face yesterday was backing a greyhound called Sobs - which won.
Patterson
Hume Ballard O'Nien (c) Hjelde
Ekwah Neil
Aouchiche Rigg Clarke
Bellingham
..and a bench of Bishuuurrrp, Roberts, Styles, Burstow, Hemir, Alese, Dack, Pembele, and Mundle.
On a madly warm and sunny but irritatingly windy afternoon, I even left the big coat at ALS towers, and the rotters made us defend the Roker End and they kicked off - have the rules changed or did we elect to play "with the wind"? Mind, the wind was blowing in every direction imaginable anyway, and it was pretty gale force at pitch level.
We started where we left off on Monday, allowing City to win an early corner, which we eventually got away to Clarke - isn't it good to have him back? - but we didn't put enough pressure on the ball in their half. Clarke got into their box a couple of times, firing pretty tamely into the keeper's chest on the latter occasion when a wallop across was needed. Ballard's header was clawed away after our corner was knocked back, then Rigg looked to have his shirt pulled in the box - but not according to the ref.
We found a bit of rhythm and Clarke's cut back saw Jobe's shot saved and the loose ball blocked. Ekwah was having a much better afternoon, winning tackles and passing it well. On the half hour, Hume broke but got a return he didn't really want and his shot was weak and wide as a consequence. Another Clarke break saw his shot saved after Jobe's had been stopped, then Neil had an effort saved with the follow-up header by Adil bouncing back off the bar.
One added minute saw us go in level when we should really have been at least a goal to the good.
City swapped a forward for a defender, presumably to snuff out Clarke, and the game was a lot flatter than the first half. Adil in particular faded, but he still helped set up Neil, who placed his shot wide rather than leather it. Patto was in the right place on 56 when a shot went straight into his arms and straight afterwards Dack wax on for Adil. Ten minutes later on came Alese and Roberts for Hjelde and the tiring Rigg. To be fair, we'd all dropped off the pace and the wind was the dominant factor.
Some tasty tackling by Alese raised our spirits, and Roberts eventually got the ball from the resultant free and crossed from the right, with Dack's header hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing the wrong way when it hit the line. Bugger.
A couple of minutes after that Clarke went through the middle and ignored Roberts to roll it to Jobe to his left - but our man faffed about rather than shoot first time and all we got was a corner
City built only their second attack of the half in the four added minutes, and we ended the game by defending a free kick.
It might only have been moderate, but it was infinitely better than Monday and we really should have won.
Man of the Match? Probably Ekwah, although it was lovely to see Clarke up and running.
