The last time I saw Sunderland get seven was against Oxford United under Peter Reid in 1998. Two apiece for Bridges, Dichio and Rae and one from Mickey Gray.

Well, the Reserves did it again today, whacking seven past Scunthorpe, as in the Oxford game without reply.

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Image: KetuGajjar

It was a line-up that included bright young hopes for the future and men who need to get away, for the sake of their careers and also Sunderland’s player staffing levels.

And they did something the senior team has not managed for nine years: win away at Arsenal. Arsenal Reserves 1 Sunderland Reserves 2.

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Now we know it: Kevin Phillips will be starting on Saturday* intent on heaping more woe on Steve Bruce and Sunderland supporters: “You look at the teams we have got left at home – Sunderland, Wolves and Fulham – and it’s no disrespect to those teams but they are games we feel we can win.” Pete Sixsmith, though, has broken our collective duck: he’s actually witnessed a win, and over money-coming-out-of-our-ears Manchester City at that. You know what’s coming next …

A Sunderland win at last! I was hoping to use that header after Saturday’s trip to St. Andrews, but the Reserves beat me to it with a well deserved 2-0 win over Manchester City at Eppleton/Hetton last night.

Goals from Craig Lynch in the first half and Ryan Noble after the break, sealed the points in the last game of the regular season and possibly the last game to be played under the current reserve set up.

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Sunderland Reserves 2 Everton Reserves 0. Take away the R word and that’s the sort of scoreline we can really enjoy.

But it was the Reserves, of course; all the same, they deserve a hearty pat on the back for a good home win that puts them top of the league.

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David Meyler, second from top left, when at Cork City
Image: Peadar O’Sullivan

We need warming up and, after Molineux, cheering up.

What better than with this scoreline? -

Chelsea 1 Sunderland 3
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Hard as nails. That’s Salut! Sunderland’s star writer Pete Sixsmith. Viewed from afar, the North East looked as if cut off from the rest of the world by snow drifts. That must have been a picture of Tow Law. But it was cold enough as Pete saw Sunderland Reserves take on Wigan. Hadn’t we seen as much of Wigan as we’d want for a while? …

Tuesday night and outside it’s cold and the wind is blowing. Inside, the heating is on, the gas fire warms the room, there’s a welcoming bottle of Macallan open and a good book on the coffee table. So, what do you do but dig out the thermals and woolly socks, put on a warm coat and head for a reserve game at Hetton?

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Midweek. Sunderland (proper) haven’t a game for a week and a half, but Pete Sixsmith found banter, nosh and an entertaining game as the Reserves took on Man City at Hetton. The Blues won, but didn’t do all of the shining …

A damp Tuesday meant the local games on offer were perused very carefully for grounds with plenty of cover to shelter from the pouring rain.

However, by 5pm, the evening was dry, the temperature chilly but not unpleasant and the Sixsmith limo pointed in the direction of Eppleton CW and the Barclays Premier Reserve League clash: Sunderland versus Manchester City.
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