The night got off to an inauspicious start when we arrived at the ground and had a 15-minute queue to get in. I’ll blame the fact that Keel Crossing wasn’t open. People on the metro on the way back said that some individuals were attempting to use their season tickets to gain entry, rather than the separate digital ticket.
By the time we got in, we were already 1-0 down. And as we took our seats, it was easy to see why.
Huddersfield’s high tempo, in-your-face tactics had them on top for the whole of
the first half. Niall Huggins and Harrison Jones were our full-backs, with new signings Nordi Mukiele and Arthur Masuaku occupying the centre back positions.
Enzo Le Fée, Dan Neil, Chris Rigg and Patrick Roberts made up the midfield, whilst Wilson Isidor and Marc Guiu were up front in a classic 4-4-2 formation – as much was predicted in the Haway The Podcast Preview Podcast.
Sunderland were lacking in imagination and spirit in the first half, and Huddersfield could have been two up by half-time.
The first half was a nasty reminder of our days in League One, where teams came to take a goal advantage, then shut up shop and time-waste like their lives depended on it. Their keeper was particularly adept at those dark arts. The one player who stood out for me was their blonde centre half, Whatmough. He seemed to have Guiu in his pocket during the first half.
It wasn’t until the 53rd minute when the Huddersfield keeper was receiving treatment for something innocuous, that something flicked in the Sunderland team.
In the next 15 minutes, we produced seven decent efforts from the likes of Patrick Roberts, Wilson Isidor, Mukiele, and Enzo Le Fée.
There was only one team in it from then on. Isidor was enjoying a lot of possession on the left-hand side, but ultimately huffed and puffed with no decisive product, and time was running out.
In the 77th minute, Milan Aleksić replaced Isidor, and it was he who provided the cross which got us our equaliser via Marc Guiu in the 83rd minute.
In the 85th minute, the match was stopped because, apparently, some kid had gotten his foot stuck in a seat. Don’t we have St John’s Ambulance to take care of such things?
And the game inevitably petered out towards a penalty shootout.
The penalties were taken at the North Stand end, in front of the Huddersfield fans.
The first ten penalties were all scored. Le Fée, Roberts, Neil, Rigg and Jenson Seelt (who came on at 77 minutes) all scored their penalties impressively, before Aleksić rolled his wide of the post, sending the impressive turnout of Huddersfield fans into raptures. 22,249 saw this contest, which was a good showing… though I did look forlornly across the stadium at our season card seats sitting empty.
