Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Sunderland 0 Boro 3
And a collective sigh of relief emerges from the lungs of every Boro fan alive! If we had lost this one it would not only have meant an imminent drop into the relegation zone but also that our closest rivals had done the double on us, and who could have lived with that? There was no other result today, for the fans, the players, the manager and everyone involved it simply had to be a win or heads would roll. And thank the maker it was! OK, so Sunderland are the premiership whipping boys with only 2 away wins (one against us) and 2 draws to their name all season, but they know how to scrap, and from our point of view it was a first win in the league since November 20th (Fulham 3-2), an away win at that, 3 much needed points and a clean sheet - could hardly ask for more, hence the Southgate salute to the crowd at the end of the match...It took two unlikely sources to net our first half goals: Manu Pogatetz and Stuart Parnaby, two defenders, but who cares they went in. Not many could see a Sunderland comeback, even Century FM's Sunderland man on the night said after 45 "the win is yours". There were a few minor scares but the black cats' finishing has been awful all season and so it proved here. So it was left to in-form hero Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to seal the game with a lovely strike to make it 4 in 4 games for the Dutchman and a night to remember for the traveling army.
In real terms it doesn't spell a comeback as such - we have leapfrogged West Brom again, but big deal, the real test is still to come against Villa at the Riverside on Saturday. If we can win that one then talks of a resurgence may be justified but until then all we've done is put another nail in the coffin of the worst team in the league. If we don't win we stay in and around the danger zone with the prospect of Chelsea to look forward to the following week, not to mention a cup replay and a looming Uefa tie that at the moment we are firm second favourites for. For the moment let's celebrate the win, but with one eye on more hard work - please!
My MOTM: All reports cite it as Pogatetz's best game so far for the club and who am I to argue.
