Despite stating that Birmingham City were underdogs coming into this FA Cup fifth-round tie, Sunderland were thankful to striker Kevin Kyle for securing a 1-1 draw that would keep them in the competition
another few days at the very least.
An amazing individual strike from Mikael Forssell fired Birmingham into a 27th-minute lead, working his way past two defenders to shoot past Mart Poom, but it only took Sunderland eleven minutes to equalise when Kyle glanced home Marcus Stewart’s cross.
Despite decent chances in the second half and full back Stephen Wright hitting the crossbar with a thunderbolt of a shot, the Lads had to settle for a replay at St. Andrews, arranged eleven days on from this game.
Despite Sunderland building up some momentum in the cup already this season, one of the biggest talking points post-game was the small crowd size, According to the BBC, the official attendance was 24,996 — virtually a half-full stadium.
Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy was asked about this after the game — which was also a 5:30pm kick off for TV — the manager refused to criticise his fans and stated that maybe love was in the air for some of the fans who were “at home holding hands with their missus”, as it was Valentine’s Day.
In addition he stated that the crowd that did attend made enough noise and was looking it at the crowd as half full rather than half empty and referenced the amount of games that the team had coming up also as an issue.
It was half-full!
I think a crowd like that when it’s live on television is a fantastic crowd to be quite honest — absolutely.
We can’t be giving out stick to our punters — it’s difficult to come and watch the games week in and week out. Then to throw a cup tie in…it was a minging afternoon, a 5.35pm kick-off and it was Valentine’s Day.
There might be a whole lot at home sat holding hands with the missus. They might be wanting to go out. I think it’s a terrific crowd to get 25,000 with all those circumstances.
We’ve got all these games coming up in the league and they have to find the dosh for that.
The extra game was another headache for supporters. With a promotion charge along with a potential cup run, it certainly was becoming a busy time for both Sunderland AFC and their fanbase.
With Tommy Smith hitting a double at in the replay, the cup run was truly alive and kicking, with the latter stages suddenly on the minds of all associated with the club.
