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Goodison Park provided more woe for Sunderland as a run of three away league matches comes to an end at just the right time. There's no time for rest though as things don't get any easier with Stoke being the first Premier League visitors of 2010. Hopefully the Stadium of Light can bring back some good fortune as it is greatly needed following another poor display at Everton.
It's over. It is finally over. On the first of February 2010 the Stadium of Light will welcome back the team for it's first league match since Boxing Day 2009. The tough away days have been getting tougher and bearing no fruit at all, January saw the club advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a convincing beating of minnows Barrow, however things just went downhill from there. Chelsea pummelled us into submission at Stamford Bridge in a 7-2 demolishing that is sure to linger in fans' minds for all the wrong reasons, and then the following week an early goal was overturned as crisis club Portsmouth came back to win 2-1 and knock us out of the FA Cup thanks to a brace from John Utaka. The defeat ensured our struggling away form isn't just consigned to the Premiership. Most recently the loyal faithful bore witness to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Everton. The defeat brings to an end a sticky run of matches on the road which has seen us collect just one point, picked up at Ewood Park after a 2-2 draw. I wrote before the match of my unmatched optimism for the Lads to get stuck into Everton and turn it around in the near future, hopefully beginning at Goodison Park. I also toyed with the idea of throwing in another little line, but it's doom bringing prophecies did not match the optimistic words that I was currently writing. However it would have been apt in hindsight. Every time I see that we are playing Everton I have to turn and ask the person next to me how long it'll be before Tim Cahill scores against us. The little man struck us down in just seven minutes this time. The Australian follows us around piling misery on us at every turn, even stretching back to his time at Millwall when he guided them passed us in the FA Cup Semi-Finals. Even now he still manages to hurt us and Tuesday saw him and new team mate Landon Donavon strike us down with little effort required. Following the 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park, in which we were greatly outclassed for the majority of the match and defensive frailties starting to become the norm we can return to our home fortress which has seen us lose just two matches all season. Hopefully Stoke on Monday will provide a turn in fortunes for us and we can get away from the “gutless”, the “spineless”, the “atrocious” performances we have been showing in recent weeks.
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