Sunderland host Bradford City in League One Last time out Sunderland lost at Portsmouth and Bradford beat Scunthorpe. The Black Cats will entertain the Bantams in front of a League One record crowd in excess of 44,000 with around 2500 travelling fans. Charlie Wyke could be available for the Boxing Day clash after recovering from a knee injury. Wyke signed from Bradford in the summer, but has spent most of this season on the treatment table. Glenn Loovens is unavailable after his red card at Portsmouth. Bradford are on an unbeaten run of 4 league games which has seen them climb out of the relegation zone. Jack Ross: “He (Charlie Wyke) will be with the under-23s and that will be him. He has trained for the last two and a half weeks now, and played a bit of in-house football.” “He played in a bounce match last week and he will play 90 minutes on Friday. If he comes through that okay, potentially he will be close to the squad for Boxing Day.” “Hopefully we will be able to use him over this schedule between now and Charlton (Athletic, who Sunderland face on January 5th).” "Josh was unwell, he wouldn’t have started because the way we set up to begin with was what we had worked on and I thought it worked, but he would always have come on, regardless of how the game was going. However, he wasn’t feeling great this morning and we didn’t really have any other option other than to include him on the bench because we lost Adam Matthews this morning as well." “We were a little bit hamstrung in that respect. With him being unwell, rather than ask him to play 1-15 minutes in these conditions, we decided to look after him and hopefully he will be OK for Boxing Day." David Hopkin: "We’ve always said that we had to be in touch by Christmas. We were maybe adrift at the bottom at one stage, but we’ve great belief and character. I’ve got to have great belief in myself and make sure that I pass that on to the players.” “I’ve never panicked or lost faith in anything I’m doing because I know it works. The players want to move forward and the expectations they have in training are bearing fruit in games.” “They really want to play for Bradford. They want to play for me and that’s important. The players who believe in it are starting to come to the front now. They’ve got belief in me and I have in them.” Form: Match Appointments: Referee: DARREN ENGLAND Assistant Referees: Mark Dwyer and Matthew McGrath Fourth Official: Alan Young Team Line ups Sunderland: McLaughlin, Matthews, Ozturk, Baldwin, James, Honeyman (c), Power, O'Nien, Gooch, McGeady, Maja Subs: Ruiter, Oviedo, McGeouch, Cattermole, Maguire, Watmore, Wyke Injured: Love, Hume, Robson Suspended: Loovens Bradford City: O’Donnell, Caddis, Night-Percival, McGowan, Chicksen, Payne, Akpan, O’Brien, Ball, Doyle, Miller (4,4,2) Subs: O’Brien, Wilson, Brunker, Wood, Devine, Isherwood, Goldthorp Injured: Scannell, Gibson, Reeves, Robinson Betting Odds: H 8/15 A 19/4 D 3/1 My two pence: This will be my first home game of the season and I’m really looking forward to it. We really could do with bouncing straight back with two home wins. Hopefully Jack will get them fired up and shuffle the pack. Bradford have picked up of late and even stuffed Walsall 4-0 so they should not to be taken for granted. Having said that, I think we still have enough to beat them and I quite fancy Wyke to score against his former club. My guess is a 3-1 home win. Boxing Day Itinerary for the FanZone at the Beacon Centre 1200: Opens 1230: Season review with Wise Men Say podcast 1300: Former player appearance 1330: Live music with The Lake Poets 1345: Members of the first team squad 1400: Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven 1430: Countdown to kick-off Ha’way the Lads
Excellent thread mate. I'm really looking forward to this, I think it will be the start of a great run for us. 4-0 and a great Christmas present for us all.
To win and win well, a disciplined determined display will be required, and we can do it. Onwards and Upwards
Think we are in a typical SAFC run!! We are all expecting an easy home win. It might happen but we all know better!! Bradford to silence the record crowd. 0-2 to the Bantans!! Bart
I hope we are right on it cos these Lads will be, they are on form and we are looking fragile at the back. I've watched Watmore since he came to the club and he shouldn't be leading the line , great to see him back but his first touch is a pass. Play him wide where he was on fire for England Under 21's., touch it and spin. Gooch has had 3 average games for me, Watmore on the right. Whats happened to Sinclair ?
Sinclair is ****e really, all smoke and mirrors and no end product. Maja should be back for this game if it's true that he had a bit of a seasonal illness which put him out of the last match. Agreed about Watmore he's not a CF and he's never claimed to be, he's a wide player through and through. His touch was never silky but it'll get better with game time.
Cash turnstiles will be open on Boxing Day for supporters who have not yet purchased their ticket for Sunderland's game against Bradford City. Turnstiles 10-16 and 63 and 64 will be open in the Premier Concourse from 1.30pm. Tickets are priced at £25 for adults, £20 for over 65s and £10 for under 16s. Tickets can also be purchased from the ticket office and online at www.safc.com/tickets Anyone collecting pre-paid tickets is strongly advised to do so as early as possible as there is an exceptionally high number of collections and queues are expected at the ticket office. The ticket office is open on Christmas Eve between 9am and 3pm for sales and collections. It will then re-open at 10am on the morning of the Bradford City game. Supporters who have purchased tickets with the ‘print at home’ option are reminded that they MUST print their tickets prior to coming to the game. The ‘print at home’ option does not allow access with a mobile phone and supporters must bring a hard copy of their ticket print out. They should also ensure that the barcode on the printed ticket is fully visible and not damaged or smudged, as this could prevent entry. With an attendance well in excess of 40,000 expected, the ticket office and stadium turnstiles will be extremely busy. All those attending the game are urged to please take into account the significantly higher numbers of people who will be collecting tickets and accessing the stadium, when planning their journey.
My first visit for quite some time , so the two of us will keep that 40k + creeping upwards . Good reaction performance. 4-0
and by the way there is no seagulls to worry about this season ! has anybody else noticed I wonder why maybe when we play Brighton (terrible joke) they will return, anyhow I see us getting straight at Bradford from the off Maja starting and winning 2-1. I wonder what the 2nd biggest 3rd div/league one attendance is.
7-1. Not sure about the 2nd half score yet. We will be right up for this one and 3 early goals will settle our nerves. PS, this may be the beer talking though.
Cheers RTB, great preview as usual. They’re hitting some form so we need to be on it from first kick to the last. Fancy us to win this one and get back on track after last games disappointing result
TEAM NEWS Sunderland: McLaughlin, Oviedo, Baldwin, Flanagan, O'Nien, Cattermole (c), Power, Gooch, McGeady, Maguire, Maja, Subs: Ruiter, Ozturk, McGeouch, Wyke, Watmore, James, Sinclair Bart
