Derby Day Is Looming — Bring It On!
· Yahoo Sports
It’s been a very long time since Sunderland visited St James’ Park — almost ten years to the day, in fact, since a 1-1 draw when Newcastle ended a six-game losing run against the Lads.
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A lot has happened in the last decade. We’ve been down to the third tier and come back again; they sold their souls to win one League Cup and then go back to losing derbies, but Sunday could be fascinating and terrifying in equal measure.
When it comes to Newcastle, we’ve had to put up with a hell of a lot of insults over the last decade.
I’m all for it. I think it’s one of the brilliant things that make this derby one of the best in the county. Bias aside, it’s better and far more passionate than the likes of the Manchester or North London derbies, but fanatical supporters on either side play a big part in that.
Derby day for ourselves and those up the road is huge, and most Newcastle fans wouldn’t write it off as a ‘lesser game’ since the takeover — although you get the impression that there are fans who don’t feel this way.
There’ll be a good atmosphere in place on Sunday, but you wouldn’t expect anything different. We turned the Stadium of Light into a cauldron in December, and it paid off. We’ll get the same treatment and it’s all about standing up to it and making sure we get in their faces more than they did to us last year.
Sunderland and the Premier League were, for a good while, a match made in hell.
We sleepwalked into relegation after too many dire years, but throughout that run, we were always so good against Newcastle — but maybe they were just far worse than we were? Either way, it’s been almost fifteen years since they picked up all three points against us.
As we head into the derby, we do so knowing that this is still one of the best squads we’ve had during the Premier League era. That may not sound like much of an achievement, but it’s something to take forward on Sunday and towards the end of the season.
This has been an unusual campaign for Sunderland.
A fantastic start to the season and losing key players to injury have taken their toll in recent weeks, but it’s the end of March and the lowest we’ve been all season is thirteenth.
Three points on Sunday would be phenomenal — not just because it would send Tyneside into a ‘Defcon 1’-level meltdown, but because it would also represent another test passed by a squad that’s given a bloody good account of itself more often than not this season.
For both teams, this is the biggest game of the remainder of the season.
Lose, and we have three weeks to dust ourselves down and get players back for the final run-in. Win, and this group of players will be reinvigorated — and we’ll be left looking up the Premier League table rather than down once again.
Any true Newcastle or Sunderland fan will have at least some tinge of nerves ahead of Sunday, but all in all, there’s less pressure on us.
I want us to play with the kind of freedom that we’ve not allowed ourselves since reaching forty points. We’re there now, and hopefully with one or two players back for the short trip up the A19, there’s a sliver of excitement making its way around my body.
Bring it on.