A tough one this, well I guess they all are at the moment, we have played the Black Cats on 4 occasions and lost every time, twice in the League Cup, and twice in League 1, both times losing by the odd goal.
With a winless journey of 20 league games stretching back over a year you would be very optimistic to suspect we could possibly get one over Sunderland on their own pitch, and with our next away fixture being at The Valley against Charlton Athletic you would think that our fruitless journey will extend until at least December.
THE SEASON SO FAR – SUNDERLAND – The Black Cats are currently sitting in6th place with a record of PLAYED 10, WON 6, DRAWN 3, LOST 1 and 21 POINTS.
LEAGUE FORM AT A GLANCE – WLDWW
2020/21 LEAGUE RECORD
Sunderland 2 Ipswich 1
Gillingham 0 Sunderland 2
Rochdale 2 Sunderland 2
Sunderland 1 Portsmouth 3
Sunderland 1 Crewe 0
Swindon 0 Sunderland 2
Charlton 0 Sunderland 0
Sunderland 1 Peterborough 0
Oxford 0 Sunderland 2
Sunderland 1 Bristol Rovers 1
YEAR FORMED – 1879
CLUB NICKNAME – The Black Cats
THE MANAGER – Philip John Parkinson aged 52 and born in Chorley, Lancs.
As a midfielder Parkinson learnt his craft at Southampton before moving on to Bury and then Reading playing 506 games in his 18-year career scoring 25 goals. Once hanging up his boots he moved almost immediately into a managerial role at Colchester United, and had spells at Hull City, Charlton Athletic, Bradford City, Bolton and now Sunderland since October 2019 on a two-year contract. His stats show him just above average for a manager with a 37% WIN RATIO and a record of GAMES 799, WON 297, DRAWN 230, LOST 272.
PLAYED FOR BOTH – Paul Butler, Tom Flanagan, remember him, he got some right slagging’s from the Cowshed, wouldn’t it be ironic if that came back to bite us on the bum…anyway moving on, Will Grigg, Tore Andre-Flo, Brendan Galloway, didn’t play for us but was a former Assistant Mick Harford, Alex Rae and probably a few more that I’ve missed, but that should be enough to get on with.
FORMER MANAGERS – Parkinson is the 43rd Sunderland Manager, 12 of those coming in the last 6 years, and they include some right beauties in the shape of Chris Coleman, Simon Grayson, David Moyes, Big Sam Allardyce, Dick Advocat, Gus Poyet, Paolo Di Canio, Martin O’Neil, Steve Bruce, Roy Keane, Niall Quinn, Mick McCarthy, Howard Wilkinson, Peter Reid, Terry Butcher, Lawrie McMenemy and of course Black Cat legend Bob Stokoe.
MATCHDAY MASCOTS – Samson and Delilah the Black Cats.
SHOOTERS BOOTS – So far, its Charlie Wyke with 4 goals.
FAMOUS FANS – Can’t be sure but I’m guessing on Steve Cram the former athlete and now BBC commentator, possibly music man Tim Rice and news correspondent Kate Adie, but I can’t say for certain as I got them off some SAFC Forum and there are more nutters on there than on Facebook Banter Pages.
BEST INTERNET ODDS – Sunderland 2/5 Draw 31/10 MK Dons 5/1
LAST TIME ROUND – Saturday 18th January 2020 – MK Dons 0 Sunderland 1
TEAM – Nicholls, Brittain, Williams, Walsh, Lewington, McGrandles (Gladwin), Houghton, Kasumu (Thompson), Mason, Morris (Nombe), Healey,
UNUSED SUBS – Poole, Cargill, Moore-Taylor, Moore.
GOALS – Gooch 79’
REFEREE – Ben Toner (6 Yellows)
ATTENDANCE – 13,327
HEAD 2 HEAD
2019/20 – MK Dons 0 Sunderland 1
2019/20 – Sunderland 2 MK Dons 1 – Bowery
2013/14 – Sunderland 4 MK Dons 2 – Bamford, McLeod (LG Cup)
2012/13 – MK Dons 0 Sunderland 2 – (LG Cup)
