[Archived] Sunderland 0-1 Rovers

[Exiled_Rover]

hope the result isn't clouded by losing Bellamy for any length of time....did anyone see it? did it look bad or was it a niggle and maybe Hughes was being cautious? can only hope now...

393414[/snapback]

According to the radio men he signalled that he wanted to be subbed, last time he did that was when he damaged his knee at Ewood.

[yellowsubmarine]

Crap game today. Only Friedel, Nelsen and Reid stood out. The rest has an average game. Dickov looks off, so does Tugay.

Lucky 3 points for us. A couple of penalty appeals against us. Thanks God they werent given.

We are up to 5th!

[blinddevotion]

Come on Boro. Would be great if they can beat Bolton

[greggyk]

Reports saying it was a pi$$ easy win. Well done boys!

[tchocky]

Great result!

[herbergeehh]

It doesn't work.

393407[/snapback]

The link works fine, downloaded and enjoyed the goal!

You'll need a media player that can handle asf-files, like VLC media player.

[asianRover]

poor performance. oh well.. we got the three points in the end. 5th place again.

c'mon boro. lets get a win tml.

[Rovers_4_life]

Great result, sounded a bit dodgy towards the end but the points are in the bag and thats the main thing.

[philipl]

Lee's found out- the link has disappeared!

[Lathund]

Neither BBC o Skysports match reports mention anything of Bellamy being injured. Which makes me doubt it's very serious. Please don't let me be wrong on this one.

[1864roverite]

dink dank doo

1-0 will do for me

[AussieinUk]

Neither BBC o Skysports match reports mention anything of Bellamy being injured. Which makes me doubt it's very serious. Please don't let me be wrong on this one.

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Skysports has stated that, Bellamy was taken off as a tactial move, not an injury. Hughes brought him off, to cool off from his confrontation with Davis (sunderland keeper)

Davis had pushed Bellamy in the back when clearing the ball from the sunderland box. Bellamy turned around and grabbed Davis by the throat. Davis did the same to Bellamy, until Caldwell seperated the two. Hughes then substituted Bellamy minutes later to allow hime to cool off.

Edited March 25, 2006 by AussieinUk

[Bobby G]

Bellers didnt look too happy coming off, and the facial expressions werent positive as he explained it to Hughes, but he was psyching up the boys on his way out and applauded the fans.

Not sure what to make of it, but I think it may be the hamstring rather than the knee. Is 9 days enough for him to recover?

Luckily its Wigan at home and Sinama may just do the trick. Wouldnt mind him being rested for a game and then back for the last 5.

[Lathund]

Skysports has stated that, Bellamy was taken off as a tactial move, not an injury. Hughes brought him off, to cool off from his confrontation with Davis (sunderland keeper)

Davis had pushed Bellamy in the back when clearing the ball from the sunderland box. Bellamy turned around and grabbed Davis by the throat. Davis did the same to Bellamy, until Caldwell seperated the two. Hughes then substituted Bellamy minutes later to allow hime to cool off.

393432[/snapback]

Their first version though read:

With his every touch already having been booed by the home fans, his subsequent withdrawal by Hughes prompted a chorus of abuse as he made his way off to be replaced by Shefki Kuqi.

EDIT: Actually it stills says that. I just assumed yours was from the match report, must've been from somewhere else.

Edited March 25, 2006 by Lathund

[AussieinUk]

Their first version though read:

With his every touch already having been booed by the home fans, his subsequent withdrawal by Hughes prompted a chorus of abuse as he made his way off to be replaced by Shefki Kuqi.

EDIT: Actually it stills says that. I just assumed yours was from the match report, must've been from somewhere else.

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On Skysports 1(Charlie Nicolas commentating on the game)

Edited March 25, 2006 by AussieinUk

[Robertson]

Just back from game, was not a classic but 1-0 will do me.

Reidy was far and away the best player, Pedersen and Emo were pretty ineffectual and Tugs was okay but the bobbly pitch certainly did not help his style of play.

Bellers was decent, he had the confrontation with davis and then he continued mouthing off when we had a throw in. Think Hughes brought him off to play it safe, at least I hope that was the reason. Certainly did not look injured.

Good job sunderland are such a poor outfit as we looked determined to give away the lead, misplacing passes and nobody taking control of the ball, particularly in the last 10 minutes.

Anyway, 3 points is the most important thing, the bandwagon rolls on

[RevidgeBlue]

Thankfully there are still some places you can watch the away games live.

Interestingly it was a "Sky Sports Diretta" transmission so I don't see how Sky can prosecute anyone for subscribing to their own service?

Thank god for Reid today, was outstanding throughout, made the difference with the goal and held us together. Solely on the basis of that performance you'd laugh a 6m offer out of court.

We started very sluggishly and our goal after 15 minutes came rather against the run of play. Reid got the ball slightly inside inside his own half, saw a huge gap and surged into it. Amazingly no-one closed him down until he got to the edge of their area by which time he decided to let fly with a great effort. 1-0. He doesn't score as many as he should but boy, when he does they're goal of the season contenders.

After that we played really well until half time, and really should have wrapped the game up. Other than Reid, Bellamy and (surprisingly) Emerton were playing particularly well. At that stage it looked a case of how many we'd win by.

Different story 2nd half, we never got going and the game was turned on it's head with half an hour to go by mystifying changes from Hughes who substituted first Emerton then amazingly Bellamy.

Dickov never had a kick throughout and with Kuqi coming on and playing equally poorly we were unable to retain any possession up front. The last 20 minutes saw one way traffic towards our goal but luckily Nelsen was rock solid at the back and we managed to hold out.

Unusually in recent times, there were signs of real friction between MGP and Mokoena shortly after Mokoena had put us in trouble by attempting a ridiculous dummy in the middle of the park, although Mokoena seemed to be blaming MGP for something.

MGP, Tugay, Dickov and Kuqi (when he came on) had stinkers IMO. By the end it was a case of never mind the performance, just enjoy the three points.

Other than not getting a draw at Spurs we're exactly where I expected us to be points wise. Wigan is also a "must win" 3 points then we will have given ourselves a real chance.

[LA Rover]

Nowhere in any match reports or in Mark Hughes' comments does it say anything about the injury, so I think we dodged a bullet there.

3 more points in the bank. With Wigan losing to West Ham we can kick them out of the Europe equation by beating them next week.

[MIROVER]

century radio report never indicated any injury to bellers. here's hoping he is fine. Good win bring on wigan

[Rovermatt]

Another good result in a string of impressive scores. We might just sneak that CL spot.

[den]

Crap game today. Only Friedel, Nelsen and Reid stood out. The rest has an average game. Dickov looks off, so does Tugay.

Lucky 3 points for us. A couple of penalty appeals against us. Thanks God they werent given.

We are up to 5th!

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Which were the lucky bits. The best team won - again.

[1864roverite]

Lets drop the Champions League theory boys and girls, IF we make it FINE but seriously, we could find ourselves seriously embarrassed in that competition.

Lets ride the wave and take the first step to Europe by taking a eufa cup slot and then making the mini league scenario.

Rovers are going to have to move forward with new signings for the next season, if we make the CL then its wholesale changes and a far superior player required costing millions which we aint got.

Arsenal will take that spot, for me Rovers to finish 5th at best 6th at worst.

if results fall for us then 4 wins and a draw may just be the perfect finish to what has become a very very good season

[ihtd]

I agree with 1864roverite, if we do make the Champions League we could find ourselves getting embarrassed and if ARSEnal keep playing like they are they will get fourth place without a doubt. I'd love for us to qualify for the Champions League, i just think it might be too early after some of the reports i've read of our performance today.

If someone had said to us at the start of the season that we'd be fifth after 31 games we would have laughed in their faces wouldn't we?

Even if it were a crap game, its still another 3points anyway.

[The Dart]

I agree with 1864roverite, if we do make the Champions League we could find ourselves getting embarrassed and if ARSEnal keep playing like they are they will get fourth place without a doubt.

I can't understand that thinking atall get some confidence lads. And besides financially the CL is strataspheres above the UEFA cup.

[philipl]

Whether its the Intertoto, Uefa or Champions League, we'll be fine under Sparky's stewardship. Come to think of it, he doesn't have any experience in the Intertoto so we'd better come at least 6th.

Edited March 26, 2006 by philipl