No Saturday game at The Stadium since January 3^rd, leaves Pete Sixsmith plenty of time to think about all kinds of things and even dream of Wembley…..

The last time I saw Sunderland’s first team play was 28 days ago on January 3^rd when we swamped the Heroes of Holker Street 3-0. Since then, due to weather, long and unwanted away trips and ESPN, I have had to get my football fix elsewhere, and I have thoroughly enjoyed switching from one type of football narcotic to another.

 This enforced absence from watching the red and whites while gritting my teeth and shaking my head has coincided with the flowering of Shildon into potential FA Vase winners. Last week they won at Roker Park, Stotfold to go into the last 16, next week they play at St Ives in Cambridgeshire (of which more later), while yesterday they had a convincing 3-1 win over the current Vase holders, Whitley Bay.

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What do you listen to during the morning drive to work or when getting ready to leave the house? Who winds you up and who, later in the day, helps you wind down? Colin Randall admits to a weakness for TalkSport – even when it talks rot …

There is a confession to make: I may be addicted to TalkSport radio. Even on days when I really must listen to Radio 4 in the car, I find some time to turn to Alan Brazil’s morning show.
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Sunderland fans take heart. Since we lost at Stoke – and many, many other places since – Simon Northwood, a City fan also known as Northy* of the Rip Roaring Potters website and lead singer of Sounds of an Asylum, has altered his view of where his club will finish (132th instead of 12th) but still thinks we’ll be 11th. Sorry, pal, but we’ll need to do better than draw with you (your prediction) on Monday if that is still on the cards …

Salut! Sunderland:
You’re having another decent season, better – as I write – than ours. Explain!

It’s funny because there has been plenty of discontent throughout the support regarding the way we have been going at things but as usual Pulis and the lads are doing the business and the table doesn’t lie. I think there is plenty more to come from these boys so I expect a decent run in as well.

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 I couldn’t bring myself to watch this one, and settled instead for a large glass of red wine and back to back episodes of Brothers and Sisters on catch-up TV.    Even though Rebecca and Justin almost split up, Kitty was diagnosed with a serious illness and Ryan was double-crossing the family business, it was less heart-rending than watching our match.   Malcolm Dawson is made of sterner stuff and reports here on our latest defeat.  

I don’t watch football with the analytical purist’s eye of Pete Sixsmith. I watch it from a purely emotional perspective. Which is not to say that Sixer is the Mr Spock of football supporters.  Anyone who has seen him at footy will have experienced his animated side. But me? I am either jumping up and down or sat back in my seat resigned to 90+ minutes of frustration.

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No one is asked to forget yet another dismal performance, costing us three more points in a match we never remotely looked like saving, let alone winning. Malcolm Dawson will be back with some thoughts on the 2-0 defeat at Everton. But I believe this deserves an airing (adapted from the version at Salut!) because Stephen “Squinny” Wilson was a passionate Sunderland fan who would have been at Goodison, or watching somewhere, had he not been murdered. To the grief of those who cared for Squinny is added the insult of having a tribute sullied by a web parasite …

Who was Stephen Wilson and who is Andrew A Sailer?

The answer to the first question is easy. Stephen, pictured (far right) with fellow Sunderland supporters at a pre-season trip to Amsterdam, was an amiable man who met an end he did not deserve. He was killed in an attack outside a pub in Bishop Auckland.

My friend Pete Sixsmith, who is seen on the extreme left of the picture, wrote an eloquent and touching tribute to him at Salut! Sunderland, entitled simply “Stephen Wilson RIP”.
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After the recent blitz of posting, Salut! Sunderland – or part of its crew – is abandoning ship, or at least indulging in a little shore leave.
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There may be a Carling Cup match to preoccupy fans of the Manchester clubs and even Surly Alex Ferguson. But for fans of Sunderland AFC, the only match that really matters will be taking place 34 miles or so to the west …

As responses to a shocking FA Cup exit at Portsmouth go, buying a ticket for the next game at Pompey – not even two weeks away – may seem irrational. I have just ordered mine.

As a logical approach to tonight’s Premier League tie against Everton, putting money on anything other than another Sunderland defeat might seem naive. I was toying with the idea of a fiver on the unexpected away win.
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Some rival fans get stuck into Who Are You? with gusto, packing their responses with facts, opinion and humour. Barry Maddicott, an Everton-supporting chef we discovered via the fans’ site Grand Old Team, where he posts as devonblue, is in a class of his own, offering by far the shortest set of answers since the series began. Looking at the way Sunderland have been playing, it can’t be that he fears it would be unwise to give too much away ahead of tomorrow night’s game. Perhaps he just prefers to do his talking at the stove. Welcome, in any case, to this parish, Barry …

Whatever happened in the FA Cup (beaten at home by Birmingham), you must fancy your chances of getting a hatfull againt us after our run.

Of course but will settle for 1-0

Everton have been on fire. Can you put your finger on what it was that changed your season around?

The return of Neville, and Fellaini playing in his favoured position.

Does it give you added pleasure that Liverpool have been going through such a tough patch on and off the field?

Oh yes.

Peter Reid and Paul Bracewell are among the names associuated with both clubs. Any memories or thoughs on them, and other links between us?

Both legends.

What have been the highs and lows of supporting Everton?

Highs 85-87, lows everything after that.

Has our dreadful form surprised you or did we just flatter to deceive earlier in the season?

Injuries hit hard when you have a small squad.

Name this season’s top four in order, and the bottom three?

Chelsea
Arsenal
Man Utd
Spurs

West Ham, Bolton, Portsmouth

If Everton and/or Sunderland were in neither list where will each of our clubs finish?

Everton 8th
Sunderland top 12

The Eduardo question. Arsenal fans hate the way I’ve personalised this but: last second of the last game of the season. A top four place depends on a win. Saha goes down and everyone except the ref knows he dived. You score the penalty and win. Take it gladly, take it guiltily or feel so ashamed you almost wish you’d missed out?

Take it gladly.

Was it outrageous to mention Saha in the context of such a question? Who are the game’s worst divers?

Gerrard.

Club v country. Who wins for you, and why? And does it make a difference to you in a World Cup year>

Club. I’m an Everton fan who follows England.

Name one thing the football authorities or Everton could do to improve the lot of the supporters.

New stadium

And will you be there on Wednesday? What will be the score?

3-1 and no.

* Barry Maddicott on Barry Maddicott: 38, lives in south Devon, followed Everton for 25 years now, currently unemployed chef.

** Photo of Goodison Park from Gene Hunt’s Flickr pages

Colin Randall

Three hundred miles or so each way for a match that – allowing for hindsight – had cup exit written all over it. Or a day out to another Roker Park than the one we remember to see the other SAFC, mighty Shildon, in another cup competition. That was the choice confronting Pete Sixsmith. No contest. And be warned, Steve Bruce, this is the scale of the crisis of confidence engulfing Sunderland: Pete may even prefer Shildon away in the next round to Wigan at home in the Premier …

Commiserations to Malcolm Dawson, who got the short straw and had to pay £20 to watch defending that would have been seen as risible in a Northern League Division two game. I pulled the plum out of the basket and saw a stirring FA Vase tie at Roker Park, Stotfold.
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Very well, reject is a harsh word.

But take a good look at the line-up fielded by Stoke City yesterday before the excellent 3-1 FA Cup win over Arsenal:

Thomas Sorensen, Danny Higginbotham, Robert Huth, Ryan Shawcross, Danny Collins, Glenn Whelan, Dean Whitehead, Rory Delap (Salif Diao, 85), Matthew Etherington (Danny Pugh, 90), Ricardo Fuller (Sanli Tuncay, 85), Mamady Sidibe

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