Tomorrow evening sees the Alex make the longest journey of the season so far as we make the long trip north to face 5th-place Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Last Season:
Last season saw them start the season with one defeat in their first ten league games before having a run of 2 wins in the next 10. They would also only lose 2 games in the final 16 before the season stopped with 10 games to play – finishing in 8th place on PPG.
They would go out of the Carabao Cup to Oxford United in the 4th Round after knocking out Accrington Stanley, Burnley and Sheffield United en route, they would go out of the FA Cup in the first round to Gillingham after a replay and extra time while they would be eliminated after finishing 3rd in their EFL Trophy group that also contained Leicester City’s Under-21s, Scunthorpe United and Grimsby Town.
This season:
They have played 8 games so far this season, they have won 3 of their 5 league games (drawing the other 2), lost on penalties to Hull City in the Carabao Cup 1st Round at home and have won both of their EFL Trophy games to advance to the knockout stage and will play Fleetwood Town to see who tops the group after both have won both of their games after 90 minutes.
Transfers:
Sunderland have made 16 signings in total, 15 on permanent deals and one loan until the end of the season. Goalkeeper Remi Matthews arrived from Bolton Wanderers with defenders Bailey Wright, Bobby Beaumont, Morgan Feeney, Kenton Richardson, Arbenit Xhemajli, Ollie Younger and Dion Sanderson (the latest on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers) all joining. Midfielders Sam Wilding, Stephen Wearne and Josh Hawkes would all be joined by forwards Aiden O’Brien, Vinnie Steels, Will Harris, Danny Graham and Mitchell Curry.
30 players have left the club permanently this summer while they also let Lee Connolly leave on loan for the season.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 2
S’land Wins: 8
Draws: 1
Biggest Alex Win: 3-0 at the Alexandra Stadium in November 2003
Biggest S’land Win: 4-1 at the Alexandra Stadium in September 1998
Last Meeting:
Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Sunderland, 12th March 2005
Stephen Elliott would score the only goal of the day in the 58th minute, 4 minutes after coming on as a substitute, as the Black Cats were promoted back to the Premier League that season.
Alex: Williams; Moss, Foster, Murdock, Tonkin; Lunt, Bell (White 85), Sorvel, Vaughan; Rivers (S. Jones 67), Varney
S’land: Myhre; Wright, Breen, Caldwell, McCartney; Thornton (Arca 57), Whitehead, Robinson, Whitley; Bridges (Elliott 54), Stewart (Brown 90)
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: Nick Colgan
Defenders: Billy Jones, Jack Jones, Stephen Wright
Midfielders: Chris Lumsdon, Jimmy McGuigan, Calvin Palmer, David Vaughan
Forwards: John Dillon, Wayne Entwistle, Riccardo Gabbiadini, Cyril Gilhespy, Mikael Mandron, John Moore, Malcolm Moore, Tom Wagstaffe, Nigel Walker, Mart Watkins, Billy Whitehurst, Albert Wood
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with Neil Hair the referee, Geoffrey Liddle and Andrew Dallison are his assistants with Andrew Miller the fourth official. Here are the Crewe games that have been refereed by Hair in the previous 5 years:
- Colchester United 6-0 Crewe Alexandra (21st August 2018)
- Crewe Alexandra 4-3 Forest Green Rovers (27th April 2019) – Porter, og, Kirk (2)
- Accrington Stanley 0-2 Crewe Alexandra (9th November 2019) – Kirk, Porter
Opposition View:
I asked Sunderland fan Ken Lambert for his thoughts going into the game and looking at the season ahead.
How would you describe last season for the Black Cats?
Last season was a total disaster for the Black Cats, we had just played what we regarded as most of our biggest rivals for promotion and were looking forward to what we thought would be an easy run-in to the playoffs only for the season to be cut short by Covid-19.
It looks like we will be missing Jordon Willis, he sustained a badly bruised foot in the Swindon game and will need an X-Ray.
What is the position that you should have strengthened in the transfer window that’s just finished?
We were lucky to get Dion Sanderson in from Wolves on the last day of the transfer window as we were short in the centre-backs due to injuries, but we should have also got a striker in with a bit of pace as we are sadly lacking in that department.
What would be the team that you would pick for the game if you were in charge?
The team I would pick is – Lee Burge Dion Sanderson Bailey Wright Tom Flanagan Luke O’Nien Grant Leadbitter Max Power Jack Diamond Chris Maguire Aiden O’Brien Danny Graham.
Who is the danger man for yourselves?
I think if Danny Graham could prove to be one of the best strikers in this league, given a decent run in the Black Cats team.
What would be a successful season for Sunderland this term?
We have to make automatic promotion a must for this season, as our record in the playoffs is well let’s just say not the best (editor note – that’s the red and white striped shirt playoff curse that exists).
