SAFC v Aston Villa

Day started badly and finished up worse. I think that about sums up last Saturday.

First of all the coach arrived 1.10pm instead of 12.55pm due to the A19 being closed at Yarm as the coach was coming from South. Whether this was an excuse for just running late remains to be seen but Mrs Gilligan was going to York and said that the Northbound was closed so perhaps the driver was not lying. I will still drop them a line about the need to be on-time. A few missing on the coach but we still broke even on the day thanks to £10 from the football card.

Arrived at the drop of point 2.00pm, we also got stopped at Vardy's garage due to non existant roadworks plenty of cones but no workmen - I think Sunderland Council make it difficult for fans to get into Sunderland and so starts the frustration off before we get to the ground. A couple of pints in the Fort and into the ground just intime for kick-off. Good to see the old boys back especially Phillips who is still everything we need to put our house upfront in order.

Kick-off and not much between the two teams both looked edgy and not wanting to make a mistake, great to see Bassila back looked good again and later in the second half, just after Villa scored was unlucky with a pile driver that hit the crossbar, the line and went out again. I think that although the first half ended 0:0 we should have been 1 down as it did appear to me that Ben Alnwick took the ball over the line when saving a shot; don't know what it looked like on the TV highlights as I have not watched any.

Second half we were second at everthing, quality upfront showed in the end and again poor defending. First Phillips netted with a close range header then two goals in as many minutes from Barry and Baros killed the game off and saw a mass exodus for the doors. I as usual stayed til the end and saw a penalty given for nowt - probably the referee was feeling sorry for us by now. Whitehead netted from the spot but damage was already done. Final score 1:3

Then back on the coach for more trouble - no traffic lights on outside the ground, cars leaving before coaches - all a f***ing mess and one that left a lot a disgruntled fans not only on our coach but I bet on the other coaches as well. We eventually left the stadium at 5.45pm nearly 1 hour after the game ended - no good to no man. If we had either drew or won reaction to the delay might not have been so bad but as the game, team and treatment of the fans coaches was crap who can blame passengers for having a dig at everthing. Letter going in this week from the branch to say exactly what we think of the parking and exiting arrangments.

Where do we go from here? Well I can put the coach parking right by moving to Dundas Street, but the team well enough is enough. Not sure how this can be put right, moral is low, no-one wants to stand up and be counted, we have no class,shite defence and forward line, we have no money to buy in January looking at the team out there on Saturday made me think - we had a few from last year playing the remainder were new and I am afraid some not as good as the ones that left. Okay the team we had last year were not good eneough for the Premiership but we have basically signed bad players, some exceptions like Bassila who I like and perhaps Miller will play more attacking if Bassila is in the side. As for the rest they would not get a game for Coxhoe Athletic on present form. We are in the mire upto and over our heads and it's only end of November. As the saying goes the league table never lies and we deserve to be where we are through bad management and bad play on the field.
Will our luck change, Mick is still looking for a formula that will work; he should get a maths expert in if it's a formula he thinks is the trouble. The formula will still get the same result Mick - crap players and management!

Finally as one of our founders would say " We're Doomed, We're Doomed"

J Gilling
FTM