From: D.J.Laws@newcastle.ac.uk (D.J.Laws)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: Sunderland news and F.A.Cup result.
Date: 14 Apr 92 12:14:54 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU

Liverpool just beat Portsmouth 3-1 in penalties to win the other F.A.Cup 
semi-final . This means we only get 17000 tickets instead of 24000 for the 
final . At least we'll be the underdogs again and not expected to win.

Latest news from Roker Park ....

Well guess what ? We lost again.

Sunderland  1 - 2 Charlton Athletic

Sunderland team :

1.Norman 2.Kay 3.Rogan 4.Bennett 5.Hardyman 6.Rush 7.Mooney 8.Davenport 
9.Armstrong 10.Byrne 11.Atkinson 
Subs: 12.Sampson 14.Brady

As expected Bracewell was unfit after problems with his broken nose.
Rush replaced the injured Goodman and Mooney swapped places with the 
ineffectual Brady who was on the bench.

Charlton:

1.Bolder 2.Pitcher 3.Minto 4.Barness 5.Webster 6.Balmer 7.Lee 8.Bumstead 
9.Leaburn (sub Gritt 81 mins) 10.Whyte 11.Walsh (sub Gatting 77 mins)

Formation (a change from the F.A.Cup formation with Rush up front and Davenport 
wide on the left ) :

                          Norman

       Kay         Bennett       Rogan      Hardyman


    Mooney       Atkinson      Armstrong    Davenport


                  Rush and Byrne


Sunderland started well , stroking the ball around with confidence. Bennett 
fired high and wide when left an easy chance ( not unlike those against 
Leicester and Norwich) to score following Armstrong's header back in to the box 
and Armstrong himself had a near post header saved by Bolder.

Charlton also had their chances in a first half Sunderland dominated in terms 
of possession but created only a few openings. Whyte missed a great chance when 
he fired weakly at Norman and Leaburn had an attempt blocked by a last ditch 
challenge from Bennett.

The second half again started brightly for Sunderland with Mooney looking 
particularly impressive on his return to the side. A penalty appeal for hand 
ball against Charlton was turned down in the 50th minute but 6 minutes later 
Sunderland scored from an Atkinson free-kick .

Webster brought down Rush 17 yards out on the left hand edge of the area .
Atkinson's neatly flighted free-kick found Bennett who had pulled back from his 
marker and his perfectly directed header found the back of the net past 
Bolder's dispairing dive .                                          

Sunderland had two chances to increase their lead prior to Charlton's first 
goal. Armstrong headed inches over the top with a near post header after a 
Charlton defender had misjudged the flight of the ball and left him with a good 
chance. Byrne also had  a chance from which he should have scored when he 
was left all on his own on the penalty spot. A good cross came in from the left 
but Byrne could only weakly head the ball in the right direction and Bolder 
made  an easy diving save.

Then Sunderland pressed the self-destruct button and gave Charlton two chances 
they didn't miss .

Rogan tried to control a long ball from the Charlton defence but was caught out 
by Lee . Lee knocked it to Whyte and on accepting his return pass slotted the 
ball home with the home defense looking back in despair.

Shortly after Rogan's mistake Mooney tried to dribble his way out of the box.
He was dispossessed by a sliding tackle from Walsh and Minto pounced to fire    
a weak shot which "bobbled" over Norman's outstretched arms.

Sunderland never looked like getting back on level terms and this wasn't helped 
when Charlton brought on two defenders for an attacker and a midfielder. Brady 
came on for Davenport but couldn't reproduce his magic of old and the 
Sunderland crowd were slightly displeased with the result at the final whistle.

Player assessment:

NORMAN : Wasn't fully fit following a stomach bug and hence was hesitant to 
come off his line (except on one occassion when he guided the ball out of 
playfor a goal kick with a striker challenging him ).Should really have saved 
Charlton's second goal.

KAY : OK. Strong determined as ever.

ROGAN : Good except for his crucial mistake.

BENNETT : Getting back to his best . Scored one and missed one but has now 
scored in his last two games . He went on one of his (in)famous runs upfield 
and as usual wasted the ball when he'd done so well to get so far.

HARDYMAN : Some good crosses . OK

RUSH : Had his best league game for a while . Mind you that's not saying much.
Still not up to his cup form.

MOONEY : Did so well until his fatal mistake on the edge of the area.

DAVENPORT : Some neat flicks and good work - the crowd were very displeased 
when he was substituted . He looked like he might break the Charlton defense.

ARMSTRONG : OK . Only slightly better than in recent games.

BYRNE : Still the master but not getting enough support.

ATKINSON : Did well but again looked a bit tired.

BRADY : Didn't do much when he game on.

We are missing Bracewell's steadying influence when taking the lead.

Other news :

Paul Bracewell will be out for at least the next three games following a second 
operation on his broken nose.

We are now in a very precarious position at the bottom of the table :
                 P   Pts.   GD
       .         .    .      .
       .         .    .      .
       .         .    .      .
  18 Grimsby    41   46    -15
  19 Newcastle  42   46    -16
  20 Oxford     41   45     -5
  21 S/land     38   43     -5
  22 Port Vale  42   43    -14
  23 Brighton   41   43    -16
  24 Plymouth   41   42    -21

We have either 3 or 4 games in hand on our rivals but have a very full fixture 
program.

Tonight (Tues. 14th April ) we play league leaders Ipswich at Roker.
(The likely team is the same as Saturday's with Goodman only 50-50 chance of 
returning)

Thursday 16th April we play Plymouth at home (a crucial game).

Saturday 18th April we play way at Grimsby 

Monday 20th April we are again at home but to Middlesbrough.

Other games left to play are 

   Swindon (H)
    Blackburn(A)
     Brighton (A)
      Cambridge (H)

I'll be away for a week from tomorrow (hope to get you some info on the Ipswich 
game first) and so I'll try to catch up on my return.

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
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