Matt Robson on scoring at Sunderland
Sunderland fan Matt Robson spoke to us about the FA Cup third round game at the Stadium of Light shortly after full time on Sunday.
“I think everyone is pleased with the performance,” he agreed. “It was a fantastic game of football to be involved in and we gave as good as we got.
“Greg [Fleming] made a great save at some point in the first half but we had chances of our own. We went into the break at 1-1 and the plan was to keep it level for as long as we could.”
“The second goal deflated us a little bit,” he admitted. “They got a bit of good fortune when it sliced off Sean O’Hanlon’s shin but that’s one of those things. They go against you sometimes but I think the lads can be proud of what they’ve done today.
“We rattled a few cages and hopefully the 6,000 who came to see us have gone home feeling happy.”
“We were well in the game and causing them problems before the break,” he said. “David Amoo looked a constant threat down the right hand side and we felt something might happen every time we got the ball.
“They produced a bit of quality with the Adam Johnson free kick and we couldn’t do anything about that. The important thing was that we got a reaction.”
“Our goal came from a cross from David and somehow I found myself in the six yard box,” he explained. “Lewis Guy got round the back and I was left with space to hit it. It seemed to take an age to go over the line after it smacked the bar but it was fantastic when it finally went in.
“I’ve obviously played at the Stadium of Light before but it’s been a boyhood dream to score there. It was a rather special moment and there was no way I wasn’t going to celebrate. It made it a marvellous occasion for me on a personal level and it will stay with me for a long time.”
“I think we deserved to go into half time at least on level terms,” he continued. “Fair play to them because they got hold of the ball and moved it about in the second half, but we played our part.
“We have to take this level of performance into our league games now. We were really disappointed with what we did at Crewe and we wanted to put that right in terms of appetite, desire and commitment.
“I think we got all of that even though their extra quality showed at the end. We gave them a little bit of a scare and it’s given us a great platform to take into the second half of the season. We’ve shown that we have nothing to fear in our league and if we play like this then there is no doubt we will get results.”
And on the fans in the stands, he said: “It was great to see our full allocation of away support. They helped to give us a good feeling about playing and doing well and they cheered everything – good, bad or indifferent. It was fantastic to see them stay right to the end and if it means we get 6,000 home fans at our next game at Brunton Park then that will be even better.”
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