Club Focus – Sunderland – Sunderland travel to Newcastle for season’s first Tyne-Wear derby
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Sunderland travel to Newcastle United on Sunday for this season’s first Tyne-Wear derby. It is likely to be a fiercely contested encounter at least partly due to some acrimonious encounters in the recent past and a victory for Sunderland would firmly establish them as the top team in the North East of England after decades of living in their rival’s shadows.
Perhaps it is the infrequency of the fixture that makes it one of the fiercest rivalries in the country. Due to Sunderland’s yo-yo status in recent years and of course Newcastle’s relegation to the Championship two seasons ago, the two sides do not seem to meet nearly as much as many other rivals in English football. Sunderland supporters know that this season gives them their best chance of doing the double over the Magpies for many years, a feat not achieved since the 1966-67 season. Since then, Newcastle have achieved this three times, but with the contrasting situation the two clubs find themselves in, the chance is there to steak a real claim for regional supremacy.
The fixture’s recent past is one fraught with controversy and acrimony. Sunderland’s 2-0 victory at St James’ Park in the 1990 Division 2 play-off semi-final, giving them a 2-0 aggregate victory was perhaps their most famous win at their rivals and set the tone. The Newcastle enjoyed dominance during the 90s, during perhaps their most successful, albeit trophy-less, era in recent history. However the Wearside club spent most of this decade yo-yoing between the Premier League and Championship, whilst Newcastle endured relegation in 2009, meaning swords have not been regularly crossed over recent years.
Going into the last decade it was the Mackems who began to assert their ascendancy, winning 2-1 in Newcastle two seasons in a row, thanks in no small part to Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips. It was a source of some disappointment however, that they were not able to conjure up a repeat victory at the newly built Stadium of Light. It was here that Newcastle exerted their most crushing victory over the Black Cats of modern times, a 4-1 rout against the already relegated Sunderland in 2006, which incidentally proved to be Alan Shearer’s final league appearance.
Sunderland finally ended a 20 year wait for a home victory over the Magpies two seasons ago, when a fantastic Kieran Richardson free-kick proved the winner in a 2-1 win. Later that season, at St James’ Park, the Black Cats appeared to be on their way to victory but a Steven Taylor dive earned Newcastle a late penalty, which they converted to cancel out Djibril Cisse’s first half opener. United were relegated that season and the two sides have not played since then. There is perhaps a sense of unfinished business as the Wearsiders travel the short distance down the A184 to contest what is likely to be a highly charged affair.
In other news, Asamoah Gyan has been shortlisted for Fifa’s Ballon d’Or. This follows Sunderland’s new signing’s impressive performances at the World Cup, helping Ghana to the quarter finals where they were cruelly eliminated. Gyan joins the likes of Lionel Messi and Didier Drogba on the list and is the first ever Sunderland player to be nominated.
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