Sunderland Match Report

Did he really just miss that?.......''I like Everton, they're definitely one of the better teams in the league, they've been in the premier league since day dot and that’s what we've aimed for and I think we’re getting there'' - Steve Bruce. Errr yeah, sorry about the errrrm.... ''Giant Cauliflower head'' jibe and that pal. It’s almost December and Everton are in 14th position and Sunderland are in 7th. Nice to get sugar coated pleasantries from managers after games and that, but another games rumbled by and it's a case of what might have been, damn you and your tattooed neck Jermaine, damn you.

On a positive note, it was nice to get some sort of performance from the side even if the result didn’t reflect our marginal dominance. Did i just type that? Don’t worry, i know what i mean. This purposeful contest between two well matched teams sparked into life after just 6 minutes, when Leighton Baines swept in a veritable peach of a cross right onto the most lauded Antipodean bronzed fod in the game. GOALSCORE! Almost before any of us could start reaching for our Cahill 1-0 betting slips to check we'd written it down right, Bouid-Budd....Beudw.....err Zenden, did a decent (fattish)Lionel Messi impression and left Pienaar flat on his arse and Baines(on corners now too!) a little bit confused before cutting back for Welbeck to stab home at the near post.

Ah well, loads of time to put it right, c'mon Blues. Cahill had another header cleared off the line by the annoying, pre-pubescent, canine faced Henderson before the referee finally blew up for half time and probably a welcome respite from a growing Sunderland threat. Unsurprisingly, the most stark contrast in the game was the two teams forwards lines. Every ball passed back towards Distin, Jagielka or Howard was feverishly chased down by either Darren Bent or Danny Welbeck, which seemed to fire up their team mates for the cleared second ball, the home support to put our players under a bit of pressure and generally to lead from the front. Whereas with Everton, Saha continued contributing almost frig all, the odd defensive header apart, it's hard to actually pinpoint exactly what he's bringing to the side at the moment. He genuinely offers no attacking threat at all, none, nothing, nowt.

The second half got underway, with Everton shading possession in the opening exchanges  and generally flattering to deceive. Predictably these days though, Cattermole released an offside Kieran Richardson down the right to possibly whip in an even better cross than Baines for Cahill in the first half. Welbeck, who looks like that Giraffe in Madagascar who Ross off friends does the voice for, jumped highest and weighted his header nicely to lob the advancing Howard and Everton defenders. Ah well, loads of time to put it right, c'mon Blues. And they did. The changes were made, Saha off for Yakubu and Heitinga off for Beckford. With it immediately putting Sunderland on the back foot, Everton passed it neatly, like they can, in threatening areas, like they can, just awaiting someone to WEBB IT purposefully towards goal, and he did, the swarthy little frigger. Arteta who was quiet and wasteful throughout, hit his shot which caught a wicked deflection and evaded the perma apologetic Craig Gordon to level things.

With not long left and both teams not wanting to lose a tightly fought affair, things became a little more cautious with defences sat deeper and inviting a bit of pressure onto themselves. Sunderland's final effort came from Welbeck looking for his hatrick, he seemed to snatch at the ball when he should have squared to a completely unmarked Bent who could have tapped it home if he liked, leaving the large away support mopping their brows and thinking a point now is just fine by them..............until, with barely seconds left in added on time, Jagielka punted the ball forward to Beckford, who cleverly held off his man, timed his run to perfection and bared in one on one with a petrified looking, already committed Scotsman, inexplicably though, rather than just poking it over him, he conspired to welly a rising drive up and over the bar, for what would have been a vital 3 points for him and his team, not to mention a place amongst the hearts of some of his hard to please detractors. Who in this instance will tell you he missed that cos he's shite, and that’s it. Rather than it possibly being something to do with him not getting hardly any time on the pitch, with a strike partner natch.

Two up front against West Brom please Dave, three points wouldn’t go amiss either.


Juice Terry