Victory a gift after tough Christmas

AS far as Christmases go, things could have been a lot merrier at the Stadium of Light.

The defeat against Manchester United on St Stephen’s Day was expected, although we weren’t expecting a rout. The win against Bolton was welcome, but very stressful.

Having gone two goals up playing some nice stuff, we suddenly looked a poor team when we let Bolton pull a goal back just before half time and the second-half was one of the longest 45 minutes I’ve experienced. Mercifully, the Trotters are so bad that despite loads of possession they struggled to create chances.

One amusing sight was Sunderland’s former midfield destroyer, Gavin McCann, trying to portray a hard man image by wearing a Bjorn Borg style bandage around his head. It just about worked, but when team mate Kevin Nolan needed matching headgear following a head butt tussle with Dickson Etuhu, the pair of them looked ridiculous.

If you want to look stupid and tough lads, take a tip from Joey Barton and spend your New Year behind bars.

Bolton’s equaliser was another questionable goal to add to Craig Gordon’s growing compilation. It might seem harsh, but the record signing was brought in to save us a dozen points a season and he’s still to win us any. But despite Bolton’s predictable aerial bombardment, for once our centre of defence held on, but at times it was more down to luck than judgement.

We’re making too many average Premier League teams, and players, look good. We’re badly lacking someone with experience and ability. As much as I hate Robbie Savage, I’ll drink my next pint through a sweaty sock if we sign him. He might be a fashion disaster crossbred with a horrible swine, but he’s exactly the sort of player we need.

Someone who doesn’t play fair, winds people up, gets the crowd going but, most importantly, can play a bit, too. At 33, he’s far from past his prime and he could be the difference between us staying up and going down.

One new signing I’m glad we’ve got is Kieran Richardson. Despite arriving in the summer, he’d only managed three appearances prior to the festive period due to injury. But against Bolton he showed the class too many of our current team are sadly lacking for this level, his goal being the sort of sweet finish we need to be repeating regularly.

It was refreshing to see our fantastic attendances once again over Christmas. With 47,000 and 42,000 turning up for two home fixtures in the space of four days, it puts the likes of Bolton and Wigan’s poor home gates into perspective. Where other clubs might be scrapping in front of half empty stadiums with disillusioned fans getting on the players’ backs, we’re loud and proud and right behind our lads.

And our away following is, as always, just amazing and that’s why we’re taking 8,000 fans on the 300-mile round trip to Blackburn on a Wednesday night.

In comparison, the likes of Bolton, Middlesbrough and Wigan have the worst away followings in the Premier League. To be fair to Bolton, they did create some noise, but that was only to protest at our over-zealous stewarding, rather than giving any support to the players.

We’re also playing the best football of the sides battling for survival. Roy Keane’s vision of how to play the game is considerably more attractive to watch than Bolton’s long balls, or most other teams’ huff and puff spectaculars. It probably explains why we’re still getting such huge attendances, but it’s hardly rocket science.

Despite some questionable investments in playing staff, if Keane hits the magic number required to stay up he’ll be a hero, and Sunderland will have a very happy 2008.

* Martyn McFadden