The SGM View: Wigan Win The Relief We All Needed

Sunderland’s 2-1 win over Wigan at the Stadium of Light yesterday was the relief we all needed. For many fans, the elation of watching the lads play and win home is an experience we’ve been deprived of for an awfully long time owing to the grim experience of the pandemic. Excluding friendlies, the last league home came we watched was a frustrating 2-2 draw at home to Gillingham whereby the hosts snatched an equalizer at the last second. It summed up that season as a whole, one which had its highs but which came with the sucker punch of disappointment right at the end, condemning us yet again to the torturous experience of another stint league one.

Winning the first game of course is the best statement of intent that we hope to… this time round… get out of this tier, but it’s not a feat that can be achieved by arrogance or complacency. Many of us think we are too good to be here in the first place, but the league itself thinks differently and humbles us accordingly, we have no entitlement to win it. It’s a league we have to fight, battle and scrape to get out of. We have no estimation or projection as to how the rest of the season will be like. SAFC have ranged from being sometimes brilliant to frequently off the mark and inconsistent at times.

We hope that this season will be different, but we can happy that on Saturday we did what was needed and that we are kicking off with optimism and of course feeling the thing we all fear the most at SAFC… hope. Welcome back everyone to the Stadium of Light, and a thanks once again to the tremendous support which this team has recently done little to deserve, but nonetheless must stick by it at all costs. We are Sunderland until we die, and we’re casting aside those painful memories to get right into it again!