Match Day Thread Sunderland v Cheltenham Town – Tuesday 28th September 2021 - KO 19:45

Sunderland host Cheltenham in the SkyBet League One

Last time out Sunderland beat Bolton and Cheltenham Town lost at Wigan.
Lynden Gooch was absent from the matchday squad as Sunderland beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. Lee Johnson said that he is hopeful that the midfielder has not suffered a serious problem, but expects him to be available for Portsmouth away.
Lee Johnson is also likely to reshuffle his defence for the visit of Cheltenham, after the Black Cats picked up two concerns in the narrow win on Saturday. Dennis Cirkin was replaced by Niall Huggins after suffering a suspected concussion and Callum Doyle has a minor back injury that will have to be monitored by Johnson and his staff.
The Black Cats have won their last 6 home games in a row. Cheltenham have started the season reasonably well, with 12 points after 9 games and sit in 14th place in the League. Charlie Raglan and Will Boyle are unavailable due to injury. Kyle Vassell didn't train on Monday after suffering a reaction from the second half on Saturday. Other than that, it's the same players available.
Lee Johnson:
“I don't think it's that serious, he (Gooch) picked up a knock in training before the Fleetwood game on the top of the foot. More than likely that's been deferred to the bottom of the foot."
“It's just started to cause him a bit of a problem. I would expect him to be out for Tuesday night, and then potentially to be back for Saturday or then Lincoln in the Papa John's on the Tuesday.”
“Dennis was outstanding and you can see now why we signed him, We're still chasing fitness with a few and you can see that in games. It's a bit frustrating and probably the reason we're not able to quite win games by a higher margin.
“With Callum, he had a bit of a stiff back going into the game yesterday and he just needed a bit of treatment ahead of it.
“It's just seized up on him towards the end there I think and so we had to bring him off. Whether he's available for Tuesday, we'll have to see.”
Michael Duff:
"I think we got beat by a better team ultimately, That's going to happen this year. We're going to play against teams that are better than us and they showed why they are top of the league.”
"We never really laid a glove on them and gave them two really poor goals. You can talk about us being poor but they're a good team so you can probably focus on them rather than us."
“I know where I’d rather go, I’d rather go up to Sunderland and play in front of thirty thousand people, that’s why you are a footballer.”
“Is it going to be difficult – Yes, is anyone expecting us to get a result – No. We’re going to turn up and have a go.”

Match Appointments:
Referee: CHRISTOPHER SARGINSON
Assistant Referees: Kevin Mulraine and Robert Atkin
Fourth Official: Garreth Rhodes

Team Line ups
Sunderland: Hoffmann; Huggins, Alves, Flanagan, Winchester, Evans, Neil, Embleton, Broadhead, Stewart, Dajaku.

Subs: Burge, Wright, O’Nien, Pritchard, McGeady, O’Brien
Injured: Xhemajli, Willis, Hume, Gooch, Cirkin, Doyle.

Cheltenham Town: Flinders, Long, Pollock, Freestone, Blair, Hussey, Sercombe, Thomas, Chapman, May, Joseph
Subs: Evans, Bonds, Horton, Barkers, Perry, Vassell, Norton.
Injured: Wright, Raglan, Boyle

Betting Odds:
Sunderland 4/7 Cheltenham 17/4 Draw 29/10

My two pence:
A great result against Bolton but another tense one to watch, listen to or even follow on twitter. Hopefully we start taking all of our chances and start to make up ground on our goal difference.
I’m going for a 4-1 home win.

Live Stream
https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video

Ha’way the Lads

 

A confident 3-1 victory. Stewart, Flanagan and Embleton

 

I decided not to make any predictions this season and so far it has worked out pretty well

 

RTB

No games are easy, especially if managers start by saying they do not expect to win!

As long as we are not taken in by the bull... 3 hard earned points!

 

Like Saturday this is a free hit for Cheltenham so they travel without pressure.
We've been good at home this season and expect that to continue, unlike some others I cannot see us winning 3-4-5 at the moment as the youngsters in our team are still learning so any win will do for me.
Patience from the fans is key for me at the moment and by all accounts our fans are doing their bit HTL.

 

3 points is a must before a tough game at Portsmouth on Saturday. I’d like to see Broadhead get a start.

 

Cracking stuff as always, I think your defence is spot on and wouldn't be suprised to see Evans come in as well.
I'll go 3-0. Stewart, Neil and Geads.

 

Great thread as always. 3 points and no slip ups will do for me. Home win.

 

It sounded like Wigan had a really easy time with these on the weekend. Hoping for a nice comfortable 3 or 4 nil! It's looking like a crowd of between 27k and 28k can be expected for this one.

 

One of these games well start putting away our chances hopefully we start on Tuesday. 4-1
not a must win game but three points will give us a bit of a platform going into a run of away games

 

5-1 and in the words of The Dark Destroyer, “Let’s Do This”!!

Bart

 

I can't get to this match.....am I right in thinking I can live stream it for £10 via safc, as it's not a Sat 3pm ko?

 

In the past few seasons, when riding on the crest of a wave, we would end up losing this one.

 

I hope so.

edit - Yes it is available to UK fans

 

As long as we keep the run going I will be happy. OaU.

 

You could be right with the scoreline. It seems to me that the major weak spot in our game at the moment is that we're not putting teams away by taking our chances when we're on top.
Once we get that right.....LJ seems to think it's some of the players needing matches to get up to speed...I think we'll be fine,home or away.

 

Really hope so. Last couple of years we have had spells where we had a few good results and looked like we were on the verge of cracking it.
Only to fall away with a bad run of form. This year feels different. We are miles from the finished article but feels like we are gathering momentum and the squad looks strong. Think the next few away games will tell. Hopefully we can kick on to the next level.

 

I really hope I don't have to suffer this lot celebrating all the way home ...

... and please no one put the windows out

 

No prediction from me either.

I've only predicted draws for the occasional game, I know for a fact as soon as I pick a Sunderland win we won't, it just isn't worth the risk.

 

HA'WAY THE LADS

MACKEMS ATTACKEM

I agree with @sheepman .
We're winning without being the finished article yet.
I'll take any win at the moment.
Another 1 - 0 will do me.
A wins a win and hopefully they get more comfortable as the season progresses.
The future looks rosey and we've only lost one game where we dominated.