What great results!

TJFA Division 2 Under 12's

Ferryhill Town 4 Stockton West End 1

The lads have been strugglng lately and came up against top-of-the-table Stockton WE today. We needed a point to keep out of the relegation zone and were apprehehensive going onto the game but we needn't have worried. A great team performance by the lads and a consolation goal for Stockton right at the end. A fully deserved win and it could have been a lot more.

Friday night at SOL was brilliant, a real old fashioned 'edge of your seat' game with a fantastic matchwinner (reminded me of Vic Haloms goal vs Manchester City) by Carlos Edwards.

Our Alex was also pleased to see him team win on Saturday and Chelski get beat.

Oh, yes and the result at Selhurst Park was canny also! First time Palace have ever done us a favour.

Overall a brilliant footballing weekend in the Billy household.

Haway the lads, party time next week at Luton!

Message from Roy - it's not easy being a Sunderland supporter

Dear Coxhoe Branch,
I'm not sure we've done enough to win it; but when we got back to 1-1, we thought we'd get something, it wasn't to be.
No matter what happened today we've still got to win matches and the positives we've got to take out of it is that it's still in our own hands. We try to bounce back against Burnley on Friday.
We've played better, don't get me wrong. The attitude and the desire to win was there for everyone to see. We pulled it back to 1-1 and maybe we should have settled for a draw. In hindsight, we should have shut up shop.
But with the players we have, we're very attack-minded and we'll always look to try to win a game. With that we've left one or two gaps and we've been punished for it.
You have to give credit to the opposition. When you lose a game of football you've got to give respect to the opposition, they've got some very good players.
I've not said a lot to my players. I give respect to them and what is said in the dressing room stays in the dressing room.
We're disappointed but in the last few months we've managed to get ourselves top of the table and it's in our own hands.
If we win the next couple of games then we'll be OK, but I suppose that's the only plus we can take out of today.
Roy Keane
Colchester 3 Sunderland 1Click here to visit the safc.com Match Centre.
Next game: Sunderland v Burnley, Friday April 27, (7.45pm).Click here to buy tickets online
Click here to vote for your SAFC Player/Young Player of the Season

Message from Roy as we edge that closer to the promised land

Dear Coxhoe Branch,
I thought it was a good performance, we created plenty of chances and once again credit to the players.
We gave away a sloppy goal but the players came good again. We had to be a bit patient. It was a very good performance and the players seem to be enjoying it.
Grant [Leadbitter] probably felt he was slightly unlucky to miss out at the start, but it's great comfort to me as a manager when I luck at the bench and see the players we have got.
You need the subs to contribute and Grant did, we play every much as a team, we don't play as individuals.
Grant has done well and he's got a good future, he's shown me he wants to be part of the future at this club. He's a local lad doing well, it's fantastic.
No matter what the situation is we'll just try to win next weekend, if we do things will fall into place.
We've got a lot of experienced players, I have not sensed any nerves. When you win matches, expectations go up but good players handle that and we've got good players.
We had chances today, we should have won the game a lot easier, but that's the reality of football. I was very relaxed.
Liam Miller was not quite right but we had quality players to come in - it's great for me, it makes my job easier.
Winning football matches is what it's all about and everyone is enjoying it at the moment.
Roy Keane
Sunderland 2 QPR 1Click here to visit the safc.com Match Centre.
Next game: Colchester Utd v Sunderland, Saturday April 21, (3pm).
Next HOME game: Sunderland v BurnleyFriday April 27, 7.45pmClick here to buy tickets online

Sunday Times Snippet

The "Moving On" section of Home reports:-

With Sunderland football club pressing hard for promotion to the Premiership, their talismanic new manager, Roy Keane, formerly the linchpin of Manchester United, intends to cement his ties to the area. He plans to move his family up, probably near to Durham, in the summer. Keane has been checking out houses with an estate agent who often looks after players and staff from the Sunderland and Newcastle teams. “He told me that every manager he has looked after has been sacked within four weeks of buying a house,” Keane joked. “I’m kind of reluctant to buy one off him now.”

I gather from local knowledge that it is out Croxdale way, and he's been spotted in Spenny ASDA.

Message from Keano as we hit top spot - well done to the Lads

Dear Coxhoe Branch,
It's never over until the last kick. We were 1-0 down and not playing particularly well but with the players we have, I always felt we would get one or two chances.
You could say that the goals today weren't really chances - all credit to the players, they were great finishes.
We could have gone 2-0 down, Wardy made a great save to keep us in it before we scored.
When you've played two games in three days it is very difficult. We had one or two lads with tired legs out there but credit to them, they kept going.
It's impossible not to know the other results when you kick off late; but like I've said all the time, you just have to focus on yourselves.
It's in our own hands now, the games are running out - the table will take care of itself. The priority is to be top at the end of the season, not with three or four weeks to go.
We don't know if this will be a defining result, we'll find out at the end of the season.
Our players have shown that on top of the talent they have, there is a great desire to win football matches.
It was always going to be a hard game, Southampton are a good team and we were on the back of a tough match against Wolves, but I never underestimate these players.
Being one-nil down with 10 or 15 minuts to go, I would have settled for a point - you are thinking it is going to be one of these days.
You always think the good run of form is going to come to an end some time, but credit to the players.
I've said I'm never happy, but there was a small smile today, it's in there somewhere.

Roy Keane
Southampton 1 Sunderland 2Click here to visit the safc.com Match Centre.
Next game: Sunderland v QPR, Saturday April 14, (3pm).
Click here to buy tickets online (home games only).

Message from Roy as we try for that top 2 position

Dear Coxhoe Branch,
I think 1-0 was always going to be enough. Fortunately for us, Ross [Wallace] produced a bit of quality and we're delighted. If we had gone 1-0 down, I think it would have been difficult to get back into it.
We're taking nothing for granted. The players seem to be enjoying it, it's not as if we have been scraping results, we've been playing well.
There will be ups and downs in the next few weeks. There is six games to go, we'll win as many as we can and see where it takes us.
We just want to try to get back in the Premiership. If it's in the top two, fantastic; if it's via the play-offs, we'll be ready and focused.
You have to have hope in football and I hoped we could get in the promotion picture when I took over, but I think we are ahead of where I hoped we'd be.
What the players have got now, that togetherness, pleases me. It thrills me to have these players, they keep going and doing the business.
Ross [Wallace] has got quality. I did feel that he would come on and score, I had a gut feeling.
The conditions were difficult for both teams. Credit to Cardiff, it was a hard afternoon, there are plenty of ice packs on the legs of our players.
It was a tough, physical game; maybe not a great game to watch but you have got to admire both teams giving 100 per cent for their clubs. There was no give, lads were flying into tackles.
You just don't know in the Championship. If you were a betting man, you wouldn't touch it.

Roy Keane
Cardiff City 0 Sunderland 1Click here to visit the safc.com Match Centre.
Next game: Sunderland v Wolves, Saturday April 7, (3pm).
Click here to buy tickets online (home games only)