From: D.J.Laws@newcastle.ac.uk (D.J.Laws)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: Sunderland news and report
Date: 10 Apr 92 12:38:41 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU


What a sad day for British democracy - the Conservatives have just won an 
overall majority and hence a fourth term in power . God it's so depressing when 
you can't do anything about it - especially as I live in a Labour  heartland.

Back to football and Sunderland's latest league defeat at Leicester.

Leicester City  3 - 2 Sunderland

Sunderland were twice in the lead in a game they deserved something from only 
to be quickly hauled back . Leicester triumphed following a controversial 
penalty and this leaves Sunderland with one less game in hand on their rivals.

BTW I've never felt more in fear of getting jumped on as I did at Leicester.
What a ridiculous ground - they have advertising boards across two of the roofs 
and two match balls got stuck up there. 

Sunderland :

                        1.Norman

 2.Kay            4.Bennett       3.Rogan     5.Hardyman


8.Davenport       11.Atkinson    9.Armstrong    6.Brady


               10.Byrne       7.Goodman

Subs: 12.Mooney
      14.Sampson

Bracewell missed the match as he was having an operation on his broken nose 
while Rush and Ball are injured and Byrne recovered from what was only a very 
slight hamstring strain on Sunday.

Leicester:
1.Poole 2.Mills 3.Whitlow 4.Hill 5.Walsh 6.Grayson 7.Thompson 8.Oldfield
9.Wright  10.Ormondroyd  11.Gee  Subs: Russell and Platnauer

Early on Sunderland showed no signs of exhaustion and both sides were 
committed to attack form the start.

Brady could have set up Byrne but the enigmatic younster decided to go it alone 
and shot wide after only three minutes. Shortly afterwards Sunderland took the 
lead . Atkinson knocked the ball to Byrne from a short corner and the F.A. Cup 
hero went on a jinking run along the touchline , beating Grayson. Roker's 
leading scorer fired the ball across the face of goal for Gary Bennett to time 
his run perfectly and deflect his shot off the goalie and into the net.

Gary Mills, Leicester's star man of the night, had a low drive saved by 
partially saved by Norman and Rogan completed the clearance. In 9 minutes the 
home team pulled level. Gee's low shot was blocked but Wright pounced onto the 
rebound to score with the opposition defence looking on.

The 1-1 scoreline wasn't maintained for long as Sunderland regained the league 
following a flowing move. It was the best goal of the game and great one-touch 
stuff . Kay stroked the ball to Davenport who helped it across to Byrne and he 
in turn found Goodman just inside the penalty area . Goodman turned on a 
sixpence (as the phrase goes) and fired home between Poole and his left hand 
post.

The score actually managed to remain at 2-1 for a full 15 minutes !!
Norman dramatically saved a good diving header from Ormandroyd from Mills' cross 
from the right . Davenport and Brady proceeded to switch flanks in a vain 
attempt to stem Mills' surges forward which were giving Sunderland and 
especially Kay such problems. Leicester equalised in the 31st minute after 
another Ormondroyd header had been cleared .

Hardyman slid in to disposess a Leicester striker but only managed to knock the 
ball to Wright wide on the left. Hardyman tried to intercept his deep cross but 
only managed to flick the ball on for Mills to power an unstoppable header into 
the top of the net.

Leicester took the lead in very controversial circumstances and it was that man 
Mills again. A great run took Mills past Kay and into the penalty area . 
Bennett attempted a tackle but stood back as the Leicester man ran past him.
Mills (IMHO) then staggered a few feet and made a spectacular dive . The 
referee had no hestation in awarding a penalty . (This is the same ref who gave 
Chelsea the corner that never was in the F.A. Cup at Stamford Bridge from which 
they scored - you can imagine how pleased we were with this second dubious 
decision). Mills sent Norman the wrong way and his strike went in off the post.

Sunderland never looked like coming back as following their good start they had 
deteriorated slightly with only Bynre and Goodman really looking good.

Gee missed a sitter just before half time which would have made the game safe.
He found himself in the clear and lost control. There was still time for one 
more Sunderland attack before  the break .  Byrne superbly held off two 
defenders and his centre was met by Goodman's header only for Poole to make a 
fine stop.

Following the interval Leicester piled on the pressure .

Norman saved well from Gee and Ormondroyd 's header was hooked away off the 
line by Bennett following a Mills free-kick. Norman also saved a Whitlow pile 
driver from 25 yards and denied Mills at the expense of a corner.

Sunderland brought on Mooney for the ineffectual Brady in the 77th minute and 
they finished the game the stronger without managing to scrape an equaliser.

Mooney had his best game this season as he twice beat defenders and put over 
dangerous crosses to put Leicester under pressure . Goodman weakly headed one 
of these into the arms of Poole . Bennett had a great chance to score in injury 
time as Poole dropped another Mooney centre . The defender scooped the ball 
over the top, in a similar manner to his chance in the semi, and into the crowd.

Player assessment:

NORMAN : Did well when called on - didn't stand much of a chance for any of the 
goals.

KAY : Had a bad first half - mainly due to the fact that the Leicester 
full-back Mills easily beat whichever midfielder was marking and then Kay had 
two men to mark.

HARDYMAN : Ok. Can't really fault him for the deflection.

BENNETT : Again OK . Good goal but defensively not to hot.

ROGAN : Excellent , cleaned up at the back on many occasions.

BRADY : Made good back passes fom dangerous situations - that's all I can say 
really.

ATKINSON : Looked a bit jaded but still ran his heart out.

ARMSTRONG : Seroiusly falling out of form . Had a bad game in the middle. 
He had loads a space a couple of times but just wasted the ball.

DAVENPORT : Quite good but seems to disappear from the game for karge periods 
of time when he plays wide. Someone should have encouraged him to support the 
front two a little more.

BYRNE : Superb. His best league game for ages. His runs with the ball were 
marvellous but unfortunately he can't beat the opposition on his own.

GOODMAN : Did well and tried hard . Good finish for the goal.

OTHER NEWS :

  Ball is expected to be back after about 3 weeks after no permanent damage was 
found to his knee ligaments.

  Bracewell could still miss tomorrows game against Charlton as he is still 
having trouble breathing following his nose operation.

Regards
Dave








-- 
  David J. Laws                       Department of Mathematics & Statistics
  D.J.Laws@uk.ac.newcastle (or t'other way 'round)            The University
  Phone: +44 91 222 6000 ext7286                         Newcastle Upon Tyne
                                                                     NE1 7RU