Another good win. Firstly, credit to Accy, they came to play and did themselves justice as to why they began the day in second. Now onto us - really impressed again. A good start and a quality goal from Dan Neil, having the confidence to take the shot on with his left and a great hit. The its always disappointing to concede from a set piece, but if you watch it back its clever from Accy. One goes short and takes our man off the near post, Nottingham then attacks that space and its a good header. I felt after the goal we struggled a little bit, they had a fair bit of the ball in good areas without actually threatening too much. We had strikes first half but only hit the target with the goal. Clearly the remit at HT was to up the tempo and to get shots in on goal. We did exactly that and Accy seemed a bit rattled. We deservedly got the goal and it was well worked. Good work from Embo to commit a couple of defenders but it was made by Mcgeady, showing that experience and quality to slow the play down waiting for Winchester and then the ball is inch perfect, a tidy finish too. We should then have put them to bed, the Stewart 1 on 1 where to be fair the GK does well and didn't commit himself too quickly. Should have scored though. Mcgeady whilstles one past the post and Embleton should have done better when played in. Another day and we end with 4 or 5. Late on they have good territory again without creating loads of clear cut chances. Inevitably they started to pile crosses in but we coped well. Notably Hoffmann caught a few tricky crosses after starting nervously. Dan Neil tremendous in the middle, he showed today that he has the physical side of the game as well as the technical side. The makings of a very good player. Winchester is Rolls-Royce at RB, another quality display. Flannavaro and Doyle were impressive again, the former with two unbelievable Cruyff turns under pressure, He simply looks an entirely different player. On to next week, lets keep the momentum building!
Gooch tends to have running battles with refs when things don’t go his way and he loses his focus. I wish he’d just get on with things and not worry about it. Silly booking today.
At some point we are going to start taking our chances and we are going to smash someone 5 or 6. big mention to Ross Stewart. Some engine in that lad. Gets all over the pitch and his hold up play is superb imo. Really brings others into the game. Night and day from Wyke.
A goal would have been just reward for a very decent all round performance. I don’t think he will score as many as Wyke did last year but he will bring others into the goals imo.
Just found out Luke O’Nien spent a year training at my school the year before he got the move to us. Was doing extra training on the side of his Wycombe training under the academy his mate ran out of the artificial pitch at the school. Just had a message from my old PE teacher who used to help with training him. I had posted a photo on Instagram of me at the stadium and he said he’d forgotten I was a Sunderland fan. Said he follows us now as he’s stayed in touch with Luke. I said he deserves to be playing higher and his reply was that he spoke to Luke over the summer and he had several championship offers but “wanted to stay at Sunderland as he loves it there. Only took so long to sort as he wanted to see if his mind changed as he’s desperate to play in the championship, but he couldn’t shake it”
Well. I enjoyed that today. Though we absolutely played them off the park for 30 mins and could/should have been out of sight Genuinely didn't see their goal coming and whilst it looked like keeper error at first it was simply a very good header. Tad disappointed at our lack of composure after conceding and yet again Johnson inviting them on for the last 10 by going 5 at the back, but overall we played well against a limited but very well drilled side. Top of the ****ing league man. Get in!
My take on today. Thought Hoffman was nervy, but largely settled down as the game went. His distribution in the first half was a bit inconsistent, putting 2 straight out for throw ins, but I'm putting it down to nerves and taking some time to bed in. I think their goal came from a bit of lack of communication between him and the rest of the defence to concede the corner, but it was a great header from them to score. Up until then we'd been excellent and with luck could have been a couple up. Dan Neil was excellent, took his goal brilliantly and looks a real class act. Might be a bit early to say it, but he could be the best home grown midfielder we've had since Henderson. Winchester was MOTM, looks like he's always played there and linked up well with the midfield. And his goal was class, a real team goal and a good quality finish. Plenty would have paniced and blasted it, but he picked his spot and placed it well. Stewart reminds me more and more of Quinny, holds up play and brings others in really well. Shame he didn't score when put through, but fair play to their keeper. Though Gooch was ineffective, ran around a lot but not the end product, but was a nuisance to them. Quite a bit of play acting from them and they were definitely rattled until they equalised, but some of that was aided by a **** ref. All in all I'm happy, and had a fair drink to celebrate!
