Hungry Reid puts survival on the menu
As Andy Reid smashed home a winner so last gasp it was dangerous for asthma sufferers, he proved that the game can be just as much about technique as physical condition.
Although his fitness levels are somewhere between amusing and frightening, he managed to just about get through 90 minutes and more importantly, was in the right place at the right time in the sixth minute of injury time.
In a Premiership full of finely-tuned athletes, Reid’s physique is refreshing. A Midlands-based journalist mate tells me that Forest display all of their players’ body mass index, weight and bleep test results on the dressing room door at the training ground.
It all seems scientific until your eyes wander to the bottom, where one player has scribbled: “Andy Reid proves this is all b******s.”
The midfielder’s goal against West Ham has almost repaid his €3million transfer fee, such was the importance of the strike. Thankfully he’s not alone in terms of players hitting form at the right time. Craig Gordon’s save from Carlton Cole was out of the very top drawer and he’s now looking every bit like Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper. And after I pointed to his barren run recently, Kenwyne Jones popped up to open his 2008 account.
Players like those are vital to our run-in, so them all being on form as the season draws to a close is excellent news. With genuine quality not exactly flowing across our squad, it’s key to our survival hopes that our expensive arrivals produce the goods.
A couple of weeks ago the majority of the playing staff insisted that three wins before the end of the season should be enough to keep us up and there weren’t many Sunderland fans disagreeing with that. Since then we’ve beaten Aston Villa and West Ham to record our first back-to-back victories of the season, leaving us, in theory, with only three more points required to see us home. An upcoming fixture list that sees us visit Fulham, Newcastle and Bolton, with Manchester City and Middlesbrough still to come to the Stadium of Light means we only have ourselves to blame if we slip up.
Craven Cottage on Saturday offers a perfect chance to secure Premiership football. Beating Roy Hodgson’s side will put us at least nine points clear of the drop zone with only five games left and nudge The Cottagers closer to the Championship. But complacency could slap us across the face, so we need to show the same battling qualities this weekend as we have in our last two matches.
The support heading to the capital will be unwavering. Last-minute winners are the most dramatic way to grab three points and the scenes at the Stadium of Light following Reid’s volley were nothing short of euphoric. The players were roared off the field with some supporters even crowd-surfing, it was as if we’d just won the league. Even the usually impassive Roy Keane ran to the touchline to clench his fists!
The season is now looking like it could be a dream introduction to the top flight for Keane the manager. He spoke before the game about wanting to sign a new contract so he can continue what he’s trying to build at Sunderland. You suspect that he sees his future somewhere higher than mid-table anonymity and that suits the fans too. Some 46,000 turned up on Saturday and plans are in place to extend the stadium’s capacity to 60,000. That may sound too ambitious to an outsider, but if we can average 44,000 serving up bottom six soccer, imagine what a team pushing for Europe could attract to our football-obsessed city. For now, I’m off to pursue my new business venture — isotonic pies. Andy Reid’s Weight Watchers points look set to win us prizes so I must be onto a winner. We’re used to unlikely heroes, although nobody thought survival would come in the rotund shape of Reid. It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally seeing top flight quality at SAFC. It’s a refreshing change.
* Martyn McFadden, www.a-love-supreme.com
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