MATCH STATS
December 12 1998: The Championship (then Division One) SUNDERLAND ................... 2 (Smith 24, Butler, 44) PORT VALE ......................... 0 John Rudge’s Vale were in the bottom three and were comfortably beaten by a Sunderland side who were top of the table. This was Peter Reid’s team’s eighth win in nine games and the Valiants’ seventh defeat in eight. They were simply outplayed in front of a crowd of 37,583. “Sunderland are a class above one or two sides in this league and will more than likely be in the Premiership next season. We’ve got to make sure we are in the First Division,” said Rudge. Sunderland went up as champions, while Vale stayed up on goal difference. Port Vale: Pilkington, Walsh (Beesley, 79), Tankard, Bogie, Barnett, Aspin, Lyttle (Corden, 36), Barker, Beadle (Naylor, 71), Foyle, Talbot. Sunderland: Sorensen, Makin, Scott, Ball, Melville, Butler, Rae (Mccann, 83), Clark, Quinn, Bridges (Dichio, 86), Smith. Port Vale: WWDWD Sunderland: WWWWW
WHO WE’D LIKE TO SIGN Take your pick. Jack Baldwin has been in excellent form in central defence since his £250,000 summer move from Peterborough.
WHO TO BOO Anyone who reckons the omens are in Sunderland’s favour. Admittedly, they won in Burslem in the FA Cup third round in 1992, before going on to reach the final that year. They also won at Vale Park in April 1988 on their way to promotion the last time they were in the third tier of English football. However, Vale Park wasn’t such a good ground for them when Tony Naylor scored his astonishing effort in a 3-1 win at home to Sunderland on August 23 1997. Vale were leading 2-0 against Peter Reid’s Black Cats in what is now the Championship when Naylor produced one of the finest goals ever seen in Burslem. Collecting the ball just inside the Sunderland half, facing his own goal and with a defender breathing down his neck, Naylor back-heeled the ball through Andy Melville’s legs, spun around and then raced towards the opposition net. With a second defender back-tracking in front of him, Naylor cut inside before curling a precision right-foot effort beyond the goalkeeper’s dive from 20 yards. As the ball nestled in the net, Vale Park erupted. “It was one from the top drawer,” said his manager John Rudge. “If that goal was scored in the Premiership they’d be playing it over and over.”
MAN IN THE MIDDLE Anthony Backhouse (Cumbria): Last in charge of a Vale game for the 2-2 draw at home to Stevenage in March.
PROBABLE TEAMS Port Vale: Brown, Legge, Smith, Rawlinson, Clark, Joyce, Hannant, Conlon, Vassell, Whitfield, Pope. Sunderland: Mclaughlan, Matthews, Flanagan, Baldwin, James, Mcgeouch, Honeyman, Gooch, Maguire, Mcgeady, Mata.
BUT WHAT IF SUNDERLAND
MAKE CHANGES? They could well make changes to the starting line up from their 2-0 win at Plymouth last week, which is listed above. But even if they do, they have ample strength in depth. The players who come in include striker Jerome Sinclair, the 22 year old former Liverpool striker who is on loan from Watford for the season. Look out also for former Tranmere midfielder Max Power, ex Sheffield Wednesday defender Glenn Loovens and former Wycombe midfielder Luke O’nien.
PREDICTION An entertaining 2-2 draw with Tom Pope and Connell Rawlinson on target for the Vale.