Sunderland Preview

[Alan75]

Sunderland Preview

By Baz

Well the home game with Sunderland marks the first game of 2008 and what will the New Year bring? For Rovers hopefully another late season surge up the table and automatic European qualification, for Sunderland success is surely survival and the chance to build in the summer.

The Mackems early season form seems a distant memory now and confidence looks low. At the start of the season some of the fans where looking at Europe, but most will settle on not having to play at the dingledome.

For me this is a match that means a little more than usual as I went to Uni up in Sund’land (as the locals pronounce it) and have many happy memory's of the place, and am a regular visitor back up there.

Strangely we are playing our only home game of the festive period the day after New Year, and again out of sync with the rest of the fixtures, so thank you Mr Sky for this, to be fair I feel sorry for Boro fans – their fixtures where Big Club and Pompey away – a couple of local Derbies then!

Rovers despite seemingly able to give the first goal away in every game we play – 11 in a row I think now, are comfortable in mid-table now with 29 points from the first 20 games of the season, and within 3 points of European places. 4 points away from home is a decent return for 2 away games, but we seem to have been in the 20+ point’s zone of the league for far too long, ever since that manager of the month award for Sparky.

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