[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Punished harshly at the death last week for gambling on the three points, back-to-back road trips are Albion's opportunity to bounce back in the coming days. Tomorrow takes us to Wearside, where both sides will be looking to bring back the days of Nokia phones and emo kids by scoring historic consecutives: for Sunderland, three points would mean two wins on the trot against us for the first time since 2008, while an Albion victory would make it back-to-back wins at the Stadium of Light for the first time since 2004. We have, alas, been alternating between wins and defeats away from home since September, and despite a form blip of just one victory in the last five, Sunderland are no mugs; for that reason, Rotherham on Tuesday could prove the happier hunting ground of the two.

The Millers are one from bottom and winless since late October, leaving them seven points adrift of safety. Even given Albion's timeless propensity to go arse over tit against teams in the relegation zone, you feel Rotherham's best chance is to set up shop and hit on the break; a tactic which earned them a point at St Andrew's last Saturday and another at Elland Road the week before, sandwiched between spankings from Watford and Hull. We've proved we have the quality to hurt teams on the counter ourselves, but can we break them down? Set-pieces could be crucial come Tuesday night.

Success breeds expectation, and with the way we've acquitted ourselves against the league's top sides in recent weeks it's hard not to feel like one win from these fixtures is the minimum to look for. Whether or not that's fatal hubris in a division that dishes up twists and turns every Saturday remains to be seen: all the same, four points here would put the wind right back in our sails.

[drewks]

Oh dear

[Stairs]

This is a critical stage of season.

Injuries a plenty and no sign of new ownership.

I hate saying it but I fear our bubble is about to burst. No new ownership on horizon means a January fire sale and if no-one steps in during the second half of the season to excite CC with a summer budget he will be, understandably, off to bigger and better things.

We are, Xmas miracle excluding, doomed to another year in the Championship.

[drewks]

This is a critical stage of season. 

Injuries a plenty and no sign of new ownership.

I hate saying it but I fear our bubble is about to burst.  No new ownership on horizon means a January fire sale and if no-one steps in during the second half of the season to excite CC with a summer budget he will be, understandably, off to bigger and better things.

We are, Xmas miracle excluding, doomed to another year in the Championship.

Yup, agree with you Stairs - a critical month is before us methinks

[valpayne]

we need a striker desperately who's name isn't balsa wood

[talkSAFT]

0-0 HT - nothing to report on (apparently)

[Salopbaggie]

0-0 HT - nothing to report on (apparently)

Nope got 0-0 written all over it so far, unless BTA gets a run through 1 on 1 or Grady conjures a bit of magic can't see anything changing any time soon.

And Grady does it. 0-1

[talkSAFT]

GRADY makes it 0-1 54 mins

---

0-2 last minute brilliant free-kick by sub Jed Wallace. The fans deserve their celebrations!!!

[Blue Baggie]

Carlos does it again, shuts everything down in the first half. He then raises the tempo and presses forward in the second half. Well deserved away win with a clean sheet. All on a wet and cold December midweek game.
Great result CC we are not worthy.

[BaggieSteve]

We were at the game last night (one of our northern games and the chance to visit a new to us stadium). We always travel more in hope than expectation and the first half didn’t help that sentiment. It was slow, with no movement from midfield to allow the defence to pass to; in fairness, considering it was their home game, Rotherham had precious little interest in attacking so they sat back and allowed us to play it continuously across our back four, which we did…..a lot!

There was more urgency in the second half and more intent to get forward; once Grady scored, I think we all thought that we’d won as Rotherham were offering nothing so Jed’s free kick was the delightful icing on the cake. I know we can be really frustrating to watch but, with the injuries we have and the limitations within the squad , our approach of being patient/cautious seems to be the optimum one for us. We do seem to thrive when counter attacking but that requires the opposition to attack and Rotherham weren’t up for that.

Other take aways from last night were, for me, Kipre who was just outstanding and who plays so well with Bartley; Mulumby was anonymous and, once we’d seen that Rotherham had no attacking intent, I’d have hooked him for Swift but CC knows far better than me; I’d play Pippa instead of Townsend; we really miss Yokuslu when he’s not playing; although playing deeper than I’d like, Mowatt is a reall controlling and calming influence; although sometimes frustrating, Grady is the one spark who can change the play; BTA, for all his willingness and effort (and I love that), has all the control of an elephant. Finally, Jordan Hugill is an absolute donkey, I can’t imagine why we let him go.

Sorry for the long post but we don’t get to many games so thought I’d bore the ar*e off you

Boing