DAVID Vaughan is desperate to relive the Wembley dream after savouring the highlight of his career on his only visit to the national stadium. The Sunderland midfielder was part of the Blackpool team which triumphed at Wembley in the 2010 play-off final to end the Seasidersâ almost 40-year exile from the top flight. Victory in this weekendâs FA Cup quarter-final against Everton would send Vaughan back to the hallowed turf as the Black Cats look to secure a final four place in the competition for the first time since 2004. But the 29-year-old realises the challenge standing in Sunderlandâs path as they face an Everton side flush with confidence from a nine-game unbeaten run â beating Spurs, Chelsea and Man City in their last three Premier League outings at Goodison. Vaughan told the Echo: âThe trip to Wembley with Blackpool was great. It was probably the best moment of my career. Hopefully I can go back there with Sunderland and relive that. âYou donât get bigger occasions than a big FA Cup game at Wembley. If we can be part of that, it would be great. Itâs a huge game and weâre desperate to get through to the semis. âEverton are a really strong team, especially at home, and itâs going to be a really difficult game for us. âThe home game we played in the league against them was a tight one. We canât let them have any easy opportunities and hopefully we can get some ourselves. âAnything but a loss would be good for us there, but hopefully we can get a win. âWe needed to turn things around against Liverpool last weekend and get a few points on the board. Winning games breeds confidence that you can keep winning.â Vaughan will be in contention to start on Saturday lunchtime, if on-loan Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner fails to recover from the knee injury sustained in the closing stages of last weekendâs victory over Liverpool. Welsh international Vaughan replaced the injured Bendtner to make his first Sunderland appearance in more than a month following an ankle problem after the former Real Sociedad man had been a fixture in the starting line-up for Martin OâNeillâs first 11 games in charge. He added: âThe timing of the injury wasnât great because Iâd just established myself in the team. But hopefully I can do that again. It was nice to play the games under the manager when he first came in. âHe brought me on for the last 15 minutes on Saturday and I was just pleased to get back on the pitch and to get a win as well because Liverpool didnât really create many problems during that period. âItâs been frustrating over the last month, sitting on the sidelines watching the games. But youâve just got to work harder and get yourself back fit and back in the team.â
One of my favourite players, hard working, can pick a pass, good at breaking up the play, gets the odd worldy goal and from the sounds of it a good speaker!
Vaughan surprised me the most, a smashing player with lovely control and an eye for a pass. Underrated as ****, by everyone who doesn't follow Wales or Blackpool (and now us..) Smashing player.
i really do think liverpool again picked the wrong player... he was player of the year not adam and he did all the work for adam who got all the attention
He is a must starter on Saturday for me if we are to have a chance to progress. Mig in goal. Bardsley, o shea, turner, bridge in defense. Larsson, Gardener, Colback, Richardson and McClean is my midfield, with Richardson doing the Sess role. Bendtner to start and Campbell on the bench. 4-5-1 to combat a strong, powerful Everton team. We can win but I'd take a draw now.
I remember Vaughan absolutely ran the show for Blackpool at the SOL last season, was very pleased we got him in the Summer, and on a free as well! Compared with 8mil for the ridiculously overhyped Adam, it was an absolute steal.
After Liverpool's loss to us the other day, the bindippers were all calling for Adams head. I think Adam is a good footballer, but as was mentioned earlier, Vaughn was the real star for Blackpool while Adam took the accolades. I was stoked we got Vaughn, and think he will continue to play a big part in our success. On a free aswell, thankyou Steve!
