What's up with all the whingers. Ok its not a 3pm Saturday kick off its been moved for TV (more money for us we are a big tv draw so I would suggest getting used to it) but its the first game of a new season and there are loads who jump straight in the moaning band wagon. I personally dont care about your reasons its the first game of a new season and everybody should be bouncing around the rafters waiting for it to start. Stop looking for reasons to moan and start telling us how confident you are that we will hit the ground running and take this league by the scruff of its neck and march forward with pride no matter the kick off time or which day its on. Remember FROM THE BANKS OF THE WEAR TO THE SHORES OF SICILY. Not oooo Ipswich have got a canny travel at 5pm start on a Sunday. Rant Over HWTL
https://www.a-love-supreme.com/single-post/how-we-ve-fared-opening-day With SAFC’s fixtures now out for the 23/24 Championship campaign and Ipswich at home being our first game, we thought we’d take a look at how we’ve gotten on in previous campaign openers since the 2018/19 season, when we began life in League One. SUNDERLAND 2-1 CHARLTON ATHLETIC (18/19) We kicked off in the third tier in rather dramatic fashion as a last-gasp winner via a Lynden Gooch header insured we would take maximum points from the first game. The day began poorly, with a penalty converted by Lyle Taylor giving Charlton the lead within the first 10 minutes. 20 minutes after the break Josh Maja would score (something that would become a common occurrence for the Black Cats up until January) and everyone’s favourite Californian would steal the victory right at the death with an absolutely wonderful header. Little did we know that an injury time winner involving Charlton would also end the season, although the outcome was unfortunately reversed... SUNDERLAND 1-1 OXFORD UNITED (19/20) A rather forgettable opening day in the eventually covid-curtailed campaign, as Sunderland drew 1-1 with Oxford United. Similarly to the previous campaign-opener, the away side would go 1-0 up early on before we were once again rescued by Lynden Gooch. This time it came in the form of a penalty sitting the first five minutes of the second half. After Lynden was fouled inside the box he would dispatch his shot from 12 yards past Oxford goalkeeper Simon Eastwood and rescue Sunderland from a poorer result on opening day two years in a row. SUNDERLAND 1-1 BRISTOL ROVERS (20/21) Another first game of the season where Sunderland allowed the opposition to give themselves an early advantage, however this time SAFC fans at least didn’t have to witness it in person with crowds banned from attending due to the ongoing pandemic. Chris Maguire did manage to salvage a point for us with a shot from the edge of the box. We almost won it, Max Power had a shot turned onto the post, but the final drama of the day was a red card for George Dobson. Overall this game definitely could have went better, especially against opposition we should have been beating. SUNDERLAND 2-1 WIGAN ATHLETIC (21/22) We would continue our Wearside tradition of conceding to the away team early on in our first fixture as this time a Wigan team littered with ex-Sunderland players would find themselves with a one goal lead in the 15th minute. We would respond almost immediately with an Aiden Mcgeady goal through a penalty. The Loch Ness Drogba would then score what would turn out to be the winner early into the second half through a header assisted by Elliot Embleton. SUNDERLAND 1-1 COVENTRY CITY (22/23) As we exited League One and began life in the Championship, we would also say goodbye to conceding an early goal to the other team early on. This time Jack Clarke nodded us ahead in the 12th minute, in what would be a breakout season for the ex-Tottenham and Leeds man. We played well against the much more established Championship team but we were unfortunately unable to hold on to all three points, as a wonderful goal by prolific striker Viktor Gyokeres with eight minutes of regular time to go forced both teams to settle for a 1-1 draw.
