So. I go away for 12 days and six home points turn into two, Sunderland are back in yet another relegation scrap and we’re left wondering where the next win is coming from. Fratton Park? We’d love to think so. Dave Byne*, from the myPompey fans’ site, thinks we’ll have to settle for a draw, but fears his own club is going down …

Salut! Sunderland The cup game left Sunderland fans fuming. You must have taken heart for the rest of the Premier season – as in, there’s worse than Pompey!

Certainly on the pitch it has to be encouraging when you beat a Sunderland side that have clearly built on last season and have generally had a solid campaign so far. And yes, I believe that there are at least three worse teams than Pompey in the Premier League but we are now operating with a very threadbare squad and the chances of keeping them altogether feels doubtful. Good result for us though BUT we need to get some victories in the league.

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In which Pete Sixsmith, who rarely misses a Sunderland match, explains his worrying truancy. It’s all to do with the attraction of the FA Vase and a need to get himself, and his blood pressure, away from the Stadium of Light …

A win and a draw. That’s how it went for me on Saturday and it is a combination of results I would have been delighted to take had it been a win for Sunderland and a draw for Shildon.

Alas, it was the other way round, as the Railwaymen triumphed 3-1 at St Ives, while the Black Cats could manage no better than a 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Wigan Athletic.
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