Survival is as – but let’s kee
Five days ago Sunderland were bottom of the league. Now they’re second bottom. What more do you want? Quite a bit I should imagine. The win at Derby County seems longer ago than just five days. Indeed, when John O’Shea scored the last goal at Pride Park The Generation Game was still fondly remembered.
No one assumed anything after Friday. Not least because a jittery Derby turned in what was probably the worst 90 minutes any side has played against Sunderland this season.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t there to be enjoyed. How many times this season have we said post-match: “Well they <insert name of virtually any opposition> were rubbish. But Sunderland were worse.”?
It was a pleasant reverse of the norm and the result restored hope. Slightly. And fleetingly as it turned out.
An unremarkable, but relaxed Sheffield Wednesday, free of the tension of having anything to play for, took advantage of the home side’s and the referee’s mistakes, taking three points that they neither needed nor really merited.
To their credit, Sunderland went for it, and although their play was flawed, it was also spirited. Their mistakes were made in honesty; unlike in certain other fixtures when not every player has given their all – a form of dishonesty.
We can look at the Sheffield Wednesday game in isolation and reasonably conclude that