sunderland 1 - 1 Newcastle United - 21/10/12 - post-match reaction from page 39

[Benwell Lad]

Some great snippets from .com's excellent match report.

 

 

With 25 minutes played everything was going according to plan: the sun was shining, the ball was already in the back of the mackem net and the pre-game colour and noise of the home support had receded quicker than Steven Fletcher's hairline.     

 

A hint of weakness in the centre of the park when Ba dropped back into midfield was enough to see James Perch appear and he threw himself into challenge after challenge as the mackems showed no signs of exploiting their extra man - Adam Johnson feeble and fellow wide man James McClean more interested in a Stars in Their Eyes-type homage to the suspended Cattermole than playing football.

 

 

The final whistle brought muted celebrations from red and whiters aware of their momentary good fortune but unable to celebrate a home win against their hated rivals for the fifteenth time in sixteen wearside derbies. That commemorative mug factory surely still can't survive on "2-1" sales....

 

And looking beyond the local "bragging rights", that's just one home win in eight games for O'Neill - a run that was sufficient to see his pasty-munching predecessor driven out of town, after failing to deliver on his election promise of winning a derby.