Great win. Great result. Three points are three points however you get them and we are now back where we need to be, in the scrum. With the extra two from last Saturday, we could have been sat above Blackburn at the top of the table ...
Though we started cautiously and Sunderland were a bit better than we expected. We couldn't settle into a pattern and there were answers to every time we gained possession, and no clear outlets. But they were shithousery throughout and it cost them in the end, luckily for them not with more players. We managed to put them under pressure however and started to expose their frailties whilst not letting them capitalise on ours. The sending off was there to have and the ref had to give it because McAtee would have been in a position to shoot long before their right back would have covered. But like most times when we go up against ten, I was looking round the pitch where their 'hole' actually was. It became apparent late on but there were spells when we allowed that vacant space to close up and we didn't exploit it.
But lets not dwell on the negatives. There were some frankly outstanding performances tonight and further back some vastly improved ones too. We deserved the win and earned it with dogged determinism not to allow Sunderland to press and gain momentum. Good to see we kept our shape well and stayed firm for most of the game. Small worrying period on 80 minutes when Sunderland broke out and went for it and their goal was typical of us faffing about in our own back yard rather than up in their garden.
The first goal was a fucking dream, at last Norwood picks out Anel with a great corner and he is unchallenged but the second was purely lovely football, an A to Z of how to build, feed the pass, score the goal. And we had four players (count 'em) queuing up to smash it in. Can't remember when we scored such a beautiful goal. It was a rare moment when we fed the pass rather than the usual pass it across the box from side to side, afraid to shoot. There was always the threat that we'd lose concentration and concede the equaliser which is an ever present fear for us. But we didn't, and we won.
Foderingham 8/10: There when we needed him, crosses and the like. Bit flat footed for their goal but it's a one-on-one, so much of a lottery for him
Baldock 7/10: Characteristic mettle down the right and forming an alliance with this right sided teammates.
Ahmedovic 10/10: Fucking splendid performance. The bloke was all over the park and a massive threat for the Mackems. Skilful, adept and - dare I say it - 'Better than Basham'. They are some fucking boots to fill, and he did it tonight with a goal and an assist and some brilliant tackling, tracking, heading, runs ... I could go on
Egan 7/10: Thought he held the line better tonight, although he typically cost us the goal with a shitty pass. He's done that before at that end last season when he was pressured and lost the ball.
RND 7/10: A more assured performance from him tonight, but he struggles at times with Lowe on the outside and feels he needs to cover his arse more which can leave gaps
Lowe 7/10: Much better tonight and looking like he is growing into the role at last. Busy all over the park after the sending off and took his goal well
Berge 8.5/10: Great game for Sander if fading in parts near the end. But his qualities are all there to see. He holds onto it, runs with it, creates danger, goes past people and threatens. So unlucky to hit the post in the second half because he deserved a goal
Norwood 7/10: On-off performance, but a lot better than recently. Great corner for the goal (at last) and some decent link work ... and on that basis could be marked higher. But in other areas he is wasteful and risky and still wants to bang it long. When he feeds a pass through, player is on-goal. That's what we want. Superb effort in the second half though. Can we have one of them every week please?
McAtee 6/10: Faltering debut but with promising spells. He'll get used to this system and grow into the Fleck role and be better than him. Horror red card tackle on him.
N'Daiye 6.5/10: Not a lot came right for him tonight and he was muscled out for much of the game
Brewster 6.6/10: Worked his arse off running and pressing but we didn't find him with much. Shame really, because he needs a goal. Our forwards don't score enough for me.
Fleck 5/10: Passable outing if a bit invisible. He didn't fuck anything up, which is a bonus
Khadra 8/10: Great player. Buckets of skill and capability and draws oppositions into gambling yellow cards or being left on their arses. That bring down of that long ball was every bit of class
McBurnie (wait for it ... ) 8/10: Worked his fucking arse off. Proper battling performance, no shithousing (except for his yellow) and dead unlucky to be denied by a great save for a goal. MORE OF THIS PLEASE!
HJ&SMcC: 8/10: A game reasonable well managed to its correct conclusion and some better substitution decisions
Ref: Not bad. Correct with the red card but missed their second one which was horrendous
pommpey
