A View From The Away End: A great weekend all-round for the Wearsiders!

After a long summer break that was mostly characterised by a drawn-out managerial search and the twin distractions of the Euros and the Olympics, “proper football” made its welcome return as Sunderland headed to the Welsh capital. Pre-season optimism almost feels mandatory for football fans; all logic is cast out of the window in favour of blind faith in the seaworthiness of ‘HMS Piss the League’. Definitely an expression that I’d happily see consigned to the watery depths, but I digress.

It’s hard to recall entering a new season with Sunderland being so much of an unknown quantity. Usually, we have a vague notion of whether we’ll be decent or crap, but performances and results in pre-season were neither particularly concerning nor anything to write home about, our new Head Coach has both success and failure on his recent CV, and the squad remains largely the same as the one that blew both scorching hot and freezing cold last time around.

Despite all these uncertainties, Cardiff away was an enticing opening trip to get the away day ball rolling, and the early kick-off time would normally have been the perfect excuse to make a weekend of it. However, a Billy Joel concert at the Millenium Stadium on Friday night had kicked up hotel prices to somewhere around Chelsea’s ninth choice goalkeeper’s weekly wage, so we settled on a there-and-back-on-the-day job. Some more resilient branch members decided to brave the 7am Megabus, but having served my time with the blue and yellow wonder as a student, I plumped for the train from Paddington instead. The train was absolutely jam-packed, and even more red and white shirts would join the throng at Reading and Bristol. You can’t blame anyone for wanting to flaunt those beautiful Hummel stripes.

We reflected that Cardiff is one of those away days where you can enjoy the day out no matter the result. While there are obviously plenty of passionate Bluebirds fans, there’s never the same hostile air around the city centre that you get in other, more partisan locations (looking at you, Stoke). After catching up with a few friends at the Wellington, we headed to our usual pre-match watering hole of the Queens Vaults. My overriding memory of this gaff was from last year’s trip, when I was castigated for using a piece of pool chalk that apparently belonged to an angry-looking woman sat across the bar (nowhere near the pool table, I might add). Not wanting to risk affronting local norms, I made sure to ask permission this time. It’s all about adapting to your surroundings.

Just like our previous trip in April, the heavens decided to open up shortly before kick-off, but thankfully we made the walk to the ground in good time. The game itself was pretty even for the most part, but Sunderland looked infinitely more resilient than we had done for the most of 2024, and you never really felt that Patterson’s goal was in too much jeopardy. Earning the clean sheet without Ballard made it even more impressive, and O’Nien topped off a solid display with a header to send the fans wild. Clarke’s goal at the end to seal the points was a reminder of how lucky we are to have a player like him, and we can only hope that Ian Harte’s attempts to get him a money-spinning move turn out to be fruitless.

After toasting the victory back at the aptly-named Welsh House, we reflected on a rare positive start to the season in high spirits. The weekend got even better on Sunday as the London Branch headed to Canterbury to watch Durham claim a narrow win over Kent in the One Day Group. A great sporting weekend all round for those of a Wearside persuasion, and hopefully the first of many this season.