This Sunday, Saints head 315 miles north to Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground to face Sunderland in the FA Cup. It will be played on the 14th of January with kick off being at a slightly earlier time of 1pm. Supporters braving the journey are boarding a minibus at 4am from St Marys. This is the first match of 2024 for the girls, let’s hope we can kick the new year off with a bang, and get the win to progress into the next round of the FA Cup. For all those travelling, we wish you all safe travels.
Last time out
The last time we played Sunderland was back in September at St Marys, unfortunately this match didn’t go the way we had all hoped and we lost 1 nil after a goal in the 55th minute saw the Lasses take the lead, with a goal by Jenna Dear. If I can remember rightly and in the nicest possible way, this game was not Saints day, no matter what they tried, things just weren’t clicking. I think the biggest thing for us was the fact that they were not clinical enough when it really mattered, they could of have had 3|4 very easy goals but the ball was just not flying into the back of the net.
For sure Saints had their good moments, the quick football and the slick passing was present and caused Sunderland no end of problems, frustrating them and pushing their buttons so much they were arguing amongst themselves. Our deliveries were also very impressive. Then there were the bad moments, they turned off the throttle and became slow which allowed them to become predictable to the Lasses, allowing them to intercept.
I remember this match being quite frustrating, especially with watching the Lasses try their luck not once, not twice but three times in the box where they looked for a penalty. The first time they tried their player was not even touched. Let’s hope they don’t try and pull the same old tricks this Sunday.
Looking ahead
Looking ahead to Sunday, Sunderland are currently thriving within the league! They currently sit third in the table, only 1 point away from top and also have the best defence record within the league, they’ve only let 9 goals in – which is pretty impressive! Although, they’ve only score 13 goals, get the goal and park the bus springs to mind! They’ve won 6, drew 4 and lost 2 in the league so far this season.
In the FA Cup, Sunderland last played against Durham Cestria in which they beat them by a huge scoreline of 7 nil! As you can probably tell, it was a very one-sided match. Saints on the other hand beat Portsmouth 2-1to see them go through, was a very enjoyable battle to watch.
Sunderland, for what we’ve seen from previous matches, are a very physical team, they’re strong and also very good at closing down opposition. They are also very big wind-up merchants, so we have that to look forward to and get annoyed about this Sunday!
With both teams heading back into it after the long winter break, they’re both going to be wanting to kick 2024 off with a bang and also to progress closer to the final in the FA Cup. It’s going to be a very exciting match I feel!
Good luck to the girls and COME ON YOU SAINTS!!!
Match officials
Referee – Levi Gray
Assistant referee – Daniel Sykes
Assistant referee – Alexander Beeley
Fourth Official – Ali Rajhoo
For those not Traveling.
The game will be streamed live for free on the Club’s official YouTube channel @SunderlandAFC, and as always, coverage is available to follow on the Saints Women Twitter (X) @saintsfcwomen
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