And now, an update on the sky red button. It seems like it’s me that was the problem. If you get the red button screen on, the top right corner shows the game playing. If you use the up/down/right/left buttons on your remote, the right button scrolls to the other games. Previously I’ve had a list of games appear and I scrolled down to the one I want (safc) but it’s changed. It may (probably) have been working all the time but because of the format change I didn’t know how to get the other games to appear. Anyway, hope this has helped any of the old geezers (like what I am) who couldn’t get the red button SAFC games on.
https://www.a-love-supreme.com/single-post/sobs-v-blackpool-4 SOBS V BLACKPOOL With the town's most famous landmark illuminated in our colours, the Lads landed in Blackpool and grabbed a point. After going behind in the first half, we took the game by the scruff of the nick and levelled after the break. We created enough chances to have won it, but I suspect the vast majority of our fans are as happy as I am with the single point - even if today's games could knock us down a few places. Back across the A66 for the second time in a few days, no gritter in sight and the bog door nailed firmly in place with a general reluctance to be the first to try it. Of course, there was discussion on the the Ellis Simms return to Everton, with me seemingly the only person not at all surprised. Given Everton's situation I'd expected the sack for Lampard if he didn't recall an in-form striker. It obviously reduces our attacking options but we have enough quality players to compensate, albeit in a different style. Whatever style it is, it will be achieved with a young team - apparently, our lot at Wigan averaged under 23 years of age, the youngest ever in the top four divisions. Canny, and bodes well for the future. Early into Blackpool, there was time for a livener in a massive Spoons, full of our lot, then a canny little spot, the Shickers, round the corner with the footy on, passing on the way the Dutton Arms - where I'd once got the beers in (late 1974) and been given change of a fiver rather than the £1 I'd handed over. Ask yer grandad. Let's just say drinks were on me for a while. From there, we had a lively discussion on chess in the Crafty Bear. Chess, football? Obviously. In our version of a proper blue we attacked the end to our right ( as we were in the east side) and Amad kicked off proceedings. Patto Ballard Wright O'Nien Hume Neil Michut Clarke Amad Roberts Stewart ...and a bench of Bass, Ba, Evans, Dajaku, Bennette, Matete, and Rigg. I'll admit that I had to ask who Rigg is.... and he's the one who looked like a mascot at the end. A big bairn who’s setting the “other” leagues alight, that’s who. We set up with three across the back, and with a message from the gaffer that the squad was riddled with the lurgy/ snots/ whatever nasties are going about and that we were lucky to have been able to field team of any sorts. I'm not sure how many seats we sold, but it was all of the east side and must have been a large proportion of the crowd. It seems that many of our lot had been in town since Wigan, and the noise we generated was as impressive as ever. Dan Neil was asked to reprise his central midfield alongside Michut, but today it didn't quite work as well as it did at Wigan. Plenty of effort from our two youngsters, but the home side pushed onto us a lot more than the Latics had and as a consequence we had much less time to get it wide to Clarke and Hume. Whatever it was that infected the Lads, it resulted in a much less free-flowing first half than we’d produced at Wigan. To be fair, Blackpool were far more competitive than our previous opponents (insert words like “press” as required) and that in turn meant that they looked a lot more dangerous without being Barcelona. We’d tried to get at them in their box, but it just didn’t happen, and it was a disappointment but not that much of a surprise when Lavery latched onto a through ball that left Wright for dead in the inside-left channel and shot past Patto on twenty minutes. We tried shifting our formation a bit, but the remaining 25 minutes of the half were a bit like a heavyweight boxing match in which neither side was willing to let the other get in the vital shot –but their keeper didn’t have a real save to make until 35 minutes had passed when he dropped onto Clarke’s low effort. It could have been much worse when Patto couldn’t hold a shot, but their man hoofed the loose ball over the bar. That was a lucky escape, and we so nearly got level when Amad did his usual step inside from the right as the three added minutes were announced, and whacked a left-footer off the bar. So close, so close, but to be fair being a single goal behind was probably a fair reflection of a sloppy first half from us – and while many were moaning, it’s as well to remember that every other team in this division finished last season higher up the league system than we did. Just a question – as Bloomfield Road has been “upgraded” how do they get away with a dozen unlit portaloos? We started the second period a lot brighter than the first, which (as you might have gathered) wasn’t that difficult despite us having improved as the break approached. We began to dominate possession as the hosts began to look a little bit more like a side near the bottom of the table. We actually looked like we might cause them some problems, and we were finding Stewart more regularly although he didn’t trouble the home keeper until he hit a shot off the woodwork. Can they not make these goals just a tad bigger? Just after the hour, Michut, who’d not thrived in the face of Blackpool’s more “in yer face” approach, made way for Ba, and things began to look a little brighter as he showed a bit more strength on the ball. Five minutes after the change, a ball into the box was headed back from our right by Hume, and Stewart was on hand to flick a header past the static keeper. A nice goal, and young Trai’s second assist in as many games. Depending on which paragraph of BBC Sport you believe, it was either Stewart’s fifth goal in six games or sixth in five. No matter, we were deservedly level and we pushed for a winner. When I say “pushed” we basically laid siege to the goal to our left, but the vital breakthrough just wouldn’t come, with Blackpool trying to hit us on the break when then could get hold of the ball. Mowbray obviously had limited attacking options on the bench, what with the departure of Simms and the lurgy raging through our ranks, so there were no more changes. The home side struggled to get the ball off us, but defended well to protect their keeper as we forced a handful of corners and fired in a number of off-target shots as well as forcing a few decent saves from their last man. Five added minutes were announced, we continued to push at them, and their right back Connolly got a second yellow for a foul with added mouthing off. Sadly, there wasn’t enough time to take advantage of their numerical deficiency and it ended level. We’d had more than enough chances to win it quite comfortably, and while that’s not really a worry (yet) , and there were extenuating medical circumstances, it does emphasis the need to find some attacking back-up sooner rather than later. It’s also a measure of how far we’ve come in the last year that opponents are saying things like “Sunderland don’t need the officials to help them” and other things that show their positive regard in which they hold us. In fact, Tangerines’ boss Appleton said that we’re the best side to visit the seaside this season, and that a point for them is a good one. Progress, folks, progress. Man of the Match? Another Mr Sunderland display from O’Nien, and another goal from LND, but for me it was Trai Hume, a proper fullback who’s equally happy defending and causing problems at the other end of the field.
