This just goes to show, that you can never underestimate an opponent in the Premiership. Sunderland left Ashburton Grove without any points, but that was not from lack of effort.

After the first twenty minutes, I thought the Arsenal were getting ready to put on a clinic for ol’ Roy. Ade waited all of 20 seconds from the whistle to slam one over the crossbar… and the assault was on. Robin van Persie positively hammered a spot kick right over Gordon’s head at 7′. And Phillipe Senderos headed one home at 14′. It was at this point that I kicked back with a nice glass of Shiraz and waited for the next 7 or so goals to materialize. Can you blame me? We had less goals on Derby this far into the match. But then… something changed. The Brood-a-meter on Roy’s furrowed brow went full tilt… and his boys responded. They began frustrating our midfielders almost as well as I’ve seen any other team do it. They interrupted our beautiful passing game. They scored! <gasp> And then had the stones to equalize four minutes past the half. We were still getting past their back line well enough, but just tell me you weren’t getting a bit worried at this point. We had troubles with matches like this last year. But a little voice in the back of my head kept saying, “It’s Ok… we’ve got these guys“. When RvP took us up at 81′, the pressure was relieved, and the little voice said, “See? Chill.”

There were a few more scary moments in the last fifteen minutes, and the final whistle just couldn’t come fast enough for me with only one goal up. Despite the teeth clenching moments, this was a darn good game to watch; tons of action, and I can’t imagine Sunderland fans are too upset with the Black Cats’ performance. After a rough start, they fought back nicely. Perhaps they were a bit unnerved by Don Cheadle’s Bacary Sagna’s new hair-do. Either way, I’m looking forward to our trip to the Stadium of Light on the last day of the season. It may very well be the site where we hoist some silverware, if we keep things progressing as they are.

I know outward appearances don’t count for much. But I was all set to dislike Roy Keane at the beginning of this match, although I didn’t know much about him. Apart from his career at Old Trafford, that is. He’s always got this brooding expression as if he’s got gas, and the constant chewing makes me wonder if he’s not related to Cookie Coleman somehow. This all changed the moment I heard him speak after the match. Despite the loss, he was quite forthright and magnanimous in every respect. He even admitted that his view of the incident was pretty good, when Paul McShane trampled Alexandre Hleb and was shown the red card. Any other manager would have skirted the question, but Roy stepped right up when questioned. I hope he can keep his side up this year, because we need more managers like him in the top flight.