PREVIEW – Sunderland (H)

Founded: 1879
Nicknames: The Black Cats
Honours: Division 1 (1891/92, 1892/93, 1894/95, 1901/02, 1912/13, 1935/36), Division 2 (1975/76, 2004/05, 2006/07), FA Cup (1937, 1973)
Home Kit: Red and white stripes with red sleaves, black shorts, red socks.
Away Kit: Purple shirt red shorts, Purple socks.

Sunderland AFC were formed in 1879 at a meeting of schoolteachers called by James Allan, who had started teaching at Hendon Board School. At first, the club was called Sunderland and District Teachers’ Association Football Club, but one year later, non-teachers were allowed to join and the club’s name was changed to Sunderland AFC.

Sunderland remained in the First Division for 68 years, winning six league titles along the way as legends were born and records were set. The club were crowned champions in 1892, 1893 and 1895.

The 20^th century began with another title success in 1902. A record-breaking 9-1 win at St James’ Park came in 1908 against Newcastle United, with a fifth top-flight title secured in 1913, as the Black Cats bounced back from five defeats in their opening seven games to win 25 out of the next 31. That year, Sunderland also reached the FA Cup final, but they suffered Wembley heartbreak as Aston Villa secured a 1-0 win.

In 1997, the club bid farewell to Roker Park and moved into the Stadium of Light. Sir Bob Murray led the project from start to finish, and the Lads’ new home, which was built on the former site of the Monkwearmouth Colliery by Ballast Wiltshire plc, opened with a showpiece game against Ajax in July 1997. The original capacity was 42,000, which subsequently increased when an extension to add another tier to the north end of the ground opened in 2000.

A new era began in May 2018, as Stewart Donald took charge of the club. Jack Ross was appointed manager and the Scot led the club to Wembley Stadium twice during the 2018-19 campaign. The Black Cats suffered capital heartbreak on both occasions, though, losing to Portsmouth on penalties in the EFL Trophy final before a last-minute winner secured victory for Charlton Athletic in the League One Play-Off final. Ross was replaced by Phil Parkinson on 17 October 2019, but the former Bolton Wanderers boss saw promotion hopes dashed when 2019-20 season was curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Northampton 3 Gillingham 1 – League One

Sam Hoskins, Danny Rose and Alan Sheehan were all on target as the Cobblers ended their four-game losing run with a crucial victory.

Cian Bolger and Hoskins were off target with early headers for the home side before Sheehan produced a brilliant block to deny Kyle Dempsey.

Northampton were ahead on the half-hour mark when Connor Ogilvie tripped Rose inside the penalty box and Hoskins stepped up to smash home from 12 yards.

The home side then had a second four minutes later as Rose turned in after Benny Ashley-Seal’s shot was saved, but Dempsey’s free-kick right on half-time left the game in the balance.

Northampton restored their two-goal lead just 90 seconds into the second half though as Ashley-Seal was fouled and Sheehan’s free-kick evaded everyone and dropped into the bottom corner.

Hoskins hit the post and Rose nearly had his second as Gillingham never looked like getting anything from the game.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ complete in style! <br><br>A great 3️⃣ points for the Cobblers tonight! Finish 2020 with 3 goals and our 6️⃣7️⃣th win over Gillingham. <br><br>On to 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ <a href="https://t.co/RDUMh8tRm6">pic.twitter.com/RDUMh8tRm6</a></p>&mdash; Cobblers Past 👞 (@CobblersPast) <a href="https://twitter.com/CobblersPast/status/1344038446642434049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

15/12/20 – Sunderland 1 AFC Wimbledon 1 – League One

The Australian defender volleyed inside the far corner in the 62nd minute to cancel out Joe Pigott’s penalty, which had given the visitors the lead three minutes before half-time.

That was how it remained on a day when the Black Cats attempted to have the League One game postponed because a player had tested positive for coronavirus and seven others were told to self-isolate at home.

Wimbledon looked to take advantage and, despite Sunderland enjoying the lion’s share of the possession, secured the lead when Pigott scored from the spot.

He sent goalkeeper Lee Burge the wrong way after Callum McFadzean had pulled down Jack Rudoni in the area.

Sunderland, forced to make five changes from the side that won 4-0 at Lincoln on Saturday, had chances themselves but struggled to seriously test goalkeeper Connal Trueman enough.

The nearest the hosts came in the first half was when Elliot Embleton was denied by Trueman after Grant Leadbitter and Aiden O’Brien had created the opportunity.

After the restart Sunderland pushed more players forward and just after the hour Wright volleyed sweetly inside the far corner from a tight angle after controlling a Jack Diamond delivery.

Wimbledon created some good chances to win it, with Shane McLoughlin wasting a great chance, but there was to be no further breakthrough.

Earlier, the Black Cats had said they looked into the possibility of postponing the clash but could not reach an agreement with the EFL.

A statement posted on the club’s website prior to kick-off read: “After displaying symptoms of coronavirus on Sunday, one senior player has returned a positive test for Covid-19 and is currently observing a period of isolation.

Sunderland 2-2 Northampton – League Cup – Stadium of Light

Sunderland survived a major scare before beating Northampton on penalties to reach the Carling Cup fourth round.

Colin Larkin’s low finish put the Cobblers ahead after 20 minutes and Luke Guttridge slid in a second for the League One side with nine minutes left.

Sunderland sub Anthony Stokes then forced extra time with two late goals.

Stokes and Northampton’s Mark Hughes missed in the shoot-out before Marton Fulop saved from Leon Constantine to put Sunderland through.It was tough on Northampton, who looked well on course for victory until Stokes’ dramatic intervention.

He scrambled home after 86 minutes then headed in Andy Reid’s corner via the crossbar three minutes into injury time.

Michael Chopra scored Sunderland’s first penalty, but Northampton’s Mark Hughes missed with their opening attempt.

Daryl Murphy and Adebayo Akinfenwa both scored before Stokes clipped the bar to give Northampton renewed hope.

Andy Holt and Abdul Osman scored for Northampton, with Andy Reid hitting the target for Sunderland in between.

Kieran Richardson’s successful spot-kick put the pressure on Constantine, and Fulop produced a superb save to break Northampton’s hearts.

Played- 10

Won- 3

Drawn – 1

Lost- 6

24 Oct 2000: Marco Gabbiadini of Northampton Town shoots at goal during the Nationwide League Division Two match against Cambridge United played at the Abbey Stadium, in Cambridge, England. Northampton Town won the match 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Peter Norton /Allsport

Kevin Wilson promised to bring in a couple of players who would score goals. One was Jamie Forrester and it was rumoured that the other player would be Daryl Clare, so it was something of a surprise when they signed Marco who the previous season had put on a ‘one man display’ against the Cobblers for Darlington.

He never recaptured the form he was in at Darlington but did score some important goals in his three seasons at Sixfields.

He also became the eldest Cobbler to score a hat-trick when he did so v Colchester aged 34 years and 240 days.

He was a regular under Kevin Wilson, Kevan Broadhurst and Terry Fenwick but had no place under Martin Wilkinson and was released.

A short stay at Hartlepool ended when he decided to retire and together with his wife took over a bed and breakfast accommodation in York.

Marco was born from an English mother and an Italian father. His brother Ricardo was also a professional footballer and capped for Wales as he was born in Newport

Marco was signed by Crystal Palace for £1,8000,000 as a replacement for Ian Wright but found it hard to fit into the Palace style of play. Four months later he was a Derby player for a give away £1,000,000 !

A spell in Greece with Panionis turned into a nightmare and he returned to England within three months.

On his second spell at York Marco was told by manager Brian Little that he ‘was past his best’ He went to Darlington and scored 53 goals in two seasons.

Ran a sports programme on BBC Newcastle

The last Cobblers game Mr Doughty took charge of was the 3-0 play off semi final second leg win at Cheltenham Town in June. This is however he is first visit to the PTS Academy Stadium.

Yellow and red flag- Graham Kane

Yellow Flag- Mark Russell

Fourth Official: Mark Jones