retired_cfernandes

20/07/2005 Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Sunderland Vs West Bromich Albion
Premiership - 2nd game

GK Kelvin Davis
DR Nyron Nosworthy
DL Dan Smith
DC Alan Stubbs
DC Stephen Caldwell
MR Anthony Le Tallec
ML Julio Arca
MC Amdy Faye
MC Christian Bassila
FC Stephen Elliott
FC Chris Brown

S1 Joe Murphy
S2 Gary Breen
S3 Stephen Wright
S4 Andy Gray
S5 Jonathan Stead


An unchanged side was named by what was being billed as an early 6 pointer. Sunderland got off to another bright start when Stephen Elliott scored with his first chance of the game after 12 minutes. It was a cute finish that rounded off a well worked move beween Julio Arca and Chris Brown . Elliott then doubled the lead on 23 minutes with an incredible solo effort, picking the ball up 30 yards inside his own half and sprinting to the opposition box before curling his shot into the far post from 16 yards out. Sunderland could have further extended the lead on 43 minutes when Brown hit the crossbar with a well won header and midfielder Amdy Faye blazed over the rebound.
At half time manager Liam McCrea swapped Elliott for Jonathan Stead . The rest of the match was a non event, Sunderland defended bravely and the pressure eased when West Brom resorted to playing the long ball.

Sunderland 2 : West Bromich Albion 0
Sunderland Scorers: Elliott (12,23)
MOM: Julio Arca (Sunderland)
Attendance: 33714

This result keeps Sunderland at the top of the table with 2 wins from 2. A delighted Liam McCrea said,

"We played well in the first half, I think we won the midfield battle and took our chances well. I have to apologize to the fans for the second half, sometimes games get scrappy and unfortunately it happend today. But I am sure they are happy with the result"

retired_cfernandes

24/07/2005 The City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Manchester City Vs Sunderland
Premiership - 3rd game

GK Kelvin Davis
DR Nyron Nosworthy
DL Dan Smith
DC Alan Stubbs
DC Stephen Caldwell
MR Andy Gray
ML Julio Arca
MC Anthony Le Tallec
MC Christian Bassila
FC Stephen Elliott
FC Chris Brown

S1 Joe Murphy
S2 Gary Breen
S3 Stephen Wright
S4 Amdy Faye
S5 Jonathan Stead

Liam McCrea makes one change for the first midweek game of the season. Amdy Faye is rested, Antony Le Tallec moves into cental midfield with Andy Gray starts on the wing. Another bright start saw Stephen Elliott go close on 7 minutes. Sunderlands game plan was given a blow on 12 minutes with Le Tallec suffered an injury and had to be replaced be Faye. Manchester City controlled the rest of the 1st half, making their dominance count on 27 minutes when Bradley Wright-Phillips scored a nice lob after taking the ball past Stubbs. City's dominance continued after half time, and in an attempt to snatch a goal Sunderland changed to 4-3-3 pushing gray upfront. Sunderland did indeed get the ball in the net after 80 minutes, Elliott heading in from a Julio Arce cross, only to see the linesman raise his flag for offside. Manchester City easily saw out the last 10 minutes and recorded a comfortable victory. After 2 impressive games Sunderland looked short of ideas.

Manchester City 1 : 0 Sunderland
Manchester City Scorers: Bradley Wright-Phillips (27)
MOM: Sylvian Distin (Man City)
Attendance: 44166

"We were poor" admits Sunderland boss Liam McCrea, "but Mancester City didn't let us play so we have to give them credit. I thought we snatched an equalizer but you can't argue with the result."

On Anthony Le Tallec's injury "It doesn't look good, we'll send him for a scan tomorrow and see how bad it is but early tests show it is a torn calf."

retired_cfernandes

01/09/2005 Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Bob Murray stands up to quell the murmors of the gathering press "Please can we have a bit of quiet so that we can make a start, we're all busy men." The room falls silent. "Good, yes, thats better. Right, I'll hand you over to my manager."

All the cameras turn to me, I clear my throat and make a start. "Welcome everyone, we have some exciting news today but also some sad news, so i will start with that. As you know Anthony Le Tallec was injured in our last match, scans show that he has a very badly torn calf muscle, this rules him out for 5 months so we decided it would be best for him to return to Liverpool and receive specialist treatment. I would like to thank Anthony for his efforts and I hope we may see him around here again some day. Right, the good stuff, as you know yesterday was the transfer deadline, a very exciting time, so without further ado can i introduce our 2 new signings."

Cameras start to flash as 2 players enter from a side room. "Firstly we have Pena, an exciting young left back signed from Barcalona, and secondly, a man i'm sure you're all familiar with, signed on a season long loan... Lee Bowyer."

Now every camera is in the room is going, the journalist start talking between themselves, one shouting out "How do you think your fans will react to you signing a player with such a disruptive reputation, do you not think that signingh Lee Bowyer will ruin the dressing room"

I stand up, "Lee would be the first to admit he has a colourful past, but he has expressed his determination to do well for this team, I belive he is a player that can help us survive in the premiership. Now as Mr Murray said, we are all busy men and i have a team to prepare for Portsmouth on Saturday. Thankyou."

retired_cfernandes

10/09/2005 Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Sunderland Vs Portsmouth
Premiership - 4th game

GK Kelvin Davis
DR Nyron Nosworthy
DL Dan Smith
DC Steven Watts
DC Stephen Caldwell
MR Lee Bowyer
ML Julio Arca
MC Amdy Faye
MC Christian Bassila
FC Stephen Elliott
FC Chris Brown

S1 Joe Murphy
S2 Gary Breen
S3 Pena
S4 Dean Whitehead
S5 Andy Gray

7th place Sunderland faced 17th placed Portsmouth today. Finishing was the difference in an even match, Portsmouth took the lead on 28 minutes when Azar Karadas out jumped debutant Steven Watts to head home a Zvonimir Vukic free kick. Sunderland registered their only effort on goal on 42 minutes when Amdy Faye hit the crossbar from a corner. The second half was much the same story, both teams making openings but the finishes were always poor. That was until the 68th minute when an unmarked Collins Mbesuma calmly finished a Franck Songo'o cross. This brought about a triple substitution for Sunderland Pena , Dean Whitehead and Andy Gray was brought on to replace of Dan Smith , Christian Bassila and Stephen Elliott respectively. The last 20 minutes belonged to Sunderland with Chris Brown and Gray both having chances to claw themselves back into the game, but in tune with the rest of the match the finishes were woefully poor

Sunderland 0 : 2 Portsmouth
Portsmouth Scorers: Azar Karadas (28), Collins Mbesuma (68)
MOM: Andy O'Brien (Portsmouth)
Attendance: 31414

This 2nd loss in a row sees Sunderland drop to 12th in the table, now with 2 wins and 2 defeats from 4.

"I'm very dissapointed in the performance," says Liam McCrea "we were all over the place, the shape in the second half was terrible. We're looking for some kind of consistency if we are going to achieve our goal of staying up. But I believe we are capable of more than just hanging on, some of the stuff we have played in these first 4 games has been excellent, if we can just get on a good run of form we can push for mid table."

retired_cfernandes

17/09/2005 St. Andrews, Birmingham

Birmingham Vs Sunderland
Premiership - 5th game

GK Kelvin Davis
DR Nyron Nosworthy
DL Dan Smith
DC Steven Watts
DC Stephen Caldwell
MR Lee Bowyer
ML Julio Arca
MC Amdy Faye
MC Christian Bassila
FC Stephen Elliott
FC Chris Brown

S1 Joe Murphy
S2 Gary Breen
S3 Pena
S4 Dean Whitehead
S5 Andy Gray

Liam McCrea picked his strongest team for this trip to St. Andrews. Again Sunderland got off to a bright start with Chris Brown scoring 2 goals in 6 minutes midway through the first half. Almost immediately Birmingham struck back through Mikael Forssell on 26. Sunderland went further ahead on 30 minutes when Stephen Elliott scored his fifth goal in five games. There was only one goal after half time when Dean Whitehead, brought on for Christian Bassila, lobbed the keeper after a nice through ball from Julio Arca. This was a closer game than the score line suggests, Sunderland scored with every attempt they had on target.

Birmingham 1 : 4 Sunderland
Birmingham Scorers: Mikael Forssell (26)
Sunderland Scorers: Chris Brown (17, 23), Stephen Elliott (30), Dean Whitehead (74)
MOM: Julio Arca (Sunderland)
Attendance: 29999

Sunderland now occupy 7th position in the table.

"4 shots on targets, 4 goals, can't expect anymore than that can I" beams Liam McCrea, "this was a close game and on another day the result could have been very different."

retired_teotor

Good stuff so far. But you made a mistake in your second game. You beat West Brom 2-0 not Charlton.

retired_cfernandes

19/09/2005 Acadamy of Light, Sunderland

It was announced today that August's young player of the month Chris Brown was injured today during training. Reports say that the 20 year old England u21 fell awkwardly after contesting a high ball and has injured his hip. Sunderland physio Damon Voss has sent Brown to see a specialist and believes the talented striker will be out for 2-3 months. Sunderland fans will be hoping that players like Jonathan Stead can step up to take his place.

NMR

Good Start

retired_cfernandes

21/09/2005 Molineux, Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 : 1 Sunderland
Carling Cup 1st Round
GK Kelvin Davis
DR Stephen Wright
DL Pena
DC Steven Watts
DC Gary Breen
MR Liam Lawrence
ML Andy Welsh
MC Tommy Miller
MC Dean Whitehead
FC Daryl Murphy
FC Jonathan Stead

S1 Joe Murphy
S2 Danny Collins
S3 Amdy Faye
S4 Stephen Elliott
S5 Lee Bowyer

A second string Sunderland team were shown up today by a rampant Wolves. The first half was a very one sided contest, with Wolves making thier pressure count on 21 when Seyi Olofinjana put the ball into an open goal. Just before half time the advantage was doubled when midfielder Seol Kim-Hyeon curled in a long range effort after a poor clearance from Tommy Miller who was making his first start of the season. The second half was a better contest, Sunderland managed to get hold of the ball more often and their good work was rewarded when Jonathan Stead headed home his first ever goal for the Black Cats from a Steven Watts cross. Sunderland had a chance to level the match when Liam Lawrence squandered a one on one chance.

Wolverhampton Scorers: Seyi Olofinjana (20), Seol Kim-Hyeon (41)
Sunderland Scorers: Jonathan Stead (72)
MOM: Joleon Lescott (Sunderland)
Attendance: 22769

Sunderland manager Liam McCrea was forced to defend his selection tactics after his side were beaten by Wolves who are currently bottom of the Championship. "I can understand that some fans are unhappy at the team we put out and the performance but we have a very limited squad here and the league is the priority."

Asked if he would use the same tactics during the FA cup he replied, "Possibly, but we will have the chance to strengthen the team before then, we'll just have to wait and see."

retired_cfernandes

24/09/06 Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Sunderland 1 : 0 Bolton
Premiersip - Game 6

GK Kelvin Davis
DR Nyron Nosworthy
DL Dan Smith
DC Stephen Caldwell
DC Alan Stubbs
MR Lee Bowyer
ML Julio Arca
MC Amdy Faye
MC Christian Basilla
FC Stephen Elliott
FC Jonathan Stead

S1 Joe Murphy
S2 Steven Watt
S3 Dean Whitehead
S4 Pena
S5 Jonathan Stead

Sunderland bounced back from their midweek defeat with a deserved win against 11th placed Bolton. Sunderland had the lions share of possesion with the most shots on target and a good defensive display kept Bolton at arms length for the whole match . Unfortunately Stephen Elliott was forced off injured after 64 minutes but the upside to this was Jonathan Stead who came off the bench and scored with his first touch on 71.


Sunderland Scorers: Jonathan Stead (72)
MOM: Jussi Jaaskelainen (Bolton)
Attendance: 42275

Sunderlands 2nd home win of the season sees them maintain 7th place in the league.

"This was a great performance, Bolton are a tough team but I think we coped with their threats while at the same time causing them lots of problems."

When asked about the possible injury to Stephen Elliott, Liam McCrea sounded optimistic, "Stephen has just bruised his foot, it doesn't seem too bad, the first signs are good so hopefully he will be fit for Fulham in 9 days."