It seems an age since our last away game, certainly for myself who missed the FA Cup replay at Tottenham just over two weeks ago. It's actually just over four weeks ago since we won that point at St. James' Park against all the odds, three times coming from behind. Now we are back up there and looking to do just the same, or better, against Sunderland.
I always enjoy my football trips up to the North East but there have been too few of them in recent years. Driving in that region was always a reminder to me of all the players we signed back in the day from that part of the country, passing small towns and villages that always brought back the name of a former Claret. And tomorrow we'll drive alongside Hetton-le-Hole, the birthplace of Harry Potts and Ralph Coates.
We haven't played at the Stadium of Light too often, just four times which have brought us only one point from a 1-1 draw in 2003/04 season when Mackem Stan took us there following their relegation.
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| Ashley Barnes says we are ready to go again |
They moved there from Roker Park in the summer of 1997. I have mixed memories of that ground. I wasn't happy in 1971/72 when we let a 3-1 lead go and lost 4-3 and I certainly wasn't in 1979/80 when they stuffed us 5-0.
But I have seen us win there on two occasions. A neighbour took me to the sensational 4-0 win in the 1965/66 season and I was there to see Paul Fletcher score in the 1-0 win in 1972/73, our promotion season.
The wait for this game seems to have been an age with us having no game last week. We are right behind them in the table but if we hadn't conceded that late goal against Palace or if Chris Foy and his assistant hadn't ludicrously disallowed that late Tottenham goal against Sunderland then we'd have moved above them.
The players were given a few days off after the last game, but they've been back in since Monday preparing for tomorrow's game. although Ashley Barnes admitted today: "After the last game we wanted the next one to come quick, but that's gone now."
But he added: "We've got a big game coming up and it's going to be a big challenge against Sunderland and hopefully one where we'll come out on top. We're ready to go again."
Barnes might not have been a Burnley player had Brighton not sacked Gus Poyet, now Sunderland boss. He said of him: "He is fantastic, and what he did with us at Brighton was brilliant. Unfortunately, he moved on and he's done well at Sunderland. We're friends, but as soon as you cross the white line, there's a job to do and it's game on."
Brighton's loss was very definitely our gain and Barnes has been in outstanding form recently, particularly away from home. He knows he'll have to continue to play well to retain his place with both Lukas Jutkiewicz, out for the last two games, and Sam Vokes now pushing for his place.
Matt Taylor is getting closer to fitness and is likely to feature in the next development squad game and there is good news on Stephen Ward who is progressing well from his ankle fracture.
Will we name the same side again? I wouldn't be at all surprised if we do which would see us line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Keane, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, George Boyd, Dean Marney, David Jones, Scott Arfield, Danny Ings, Ashley Barnes. Subs from: Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Luke O'Neill, Michael Duff, Danny Lafferty, Ross Wallace, Michael Kightly, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Sam Vokes, Marvin Sordell.
Sunderland are currently enjoying their longest run in the Premier League having won promotion in 2007 with a Friday night 3-2 win against us. During that period their best finish came in 2010/11 when they were tenth whilst their worst finish came two seasons ago when they just escaped the drop in 17th place.
Their best ever finishes since the Premier League was introduced came with two seventh place finishes in 1999/2000 and 2000/01 under Peter Reid following their promotion in 1999.
Reid was manager for seven and a half years after replacing ex-Claret Mick Buxton, but in recent years they've made probably too many changes. Mick McCarthy was in charge for three years between 2003 and 2006 but no manager has enjoyed a run like that since and they seemed to have switched from Steve Bruce to Martin O'Neill, then Paulo Di Canio and Gus Poyet too quickly. It is just over three years since Bruce was sacked.
Poyet took over in October 2013 after the Di Canio disaster and only a miraculous run of away results at Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs at the end of the season enabled them to stay up when relegation looked all but certain.
Again this season they are still hovering too close to the bottom three places but Poyet has gone out this month and signed Jermain Defoe from Toronto. The real bonus in that deal was that he was able to get rid of Jozy Altidore at the same time.
They've struggled to score goals this season. They've scored 19, two less than us, while conceding 33 which is three less than us. Incredibly, almost a quarter of those goals conceded came in the one match at Southampton where they were beaten 8-0 with a staggering three own goals.
Midfielder Lee Cattermole is missing for tomorrow's game with a knee injury but Poyet has been boosted with the news that both Wes Brown and Adam Johnson are fit. He will, though, be without Jack Rodwell who will serve a one match ban having been sent off last week in the FA Cup tie against Fulham.
One player likely to play is former Burnley forward Steven Fletcher and if he does then it will be the first time he's played against a former team.
The expected Sunderland team is: Costel Pantilimon, Santiago Vergini, John O'Shea, Wes Brown, Billy Jones, Sebastian Larsson, Jordi Gomez, Adam Johnson, Patrick Van Aanholt, Jermain Defoe, Steven Fletcher. Subs: Vito Mannone, Sebastian Coates, Liam Bridcutt, Emanuele Giaccherini, Will Buckley, Danny Graham, Connor Wickham.
Last Time We Were There
Our last visit to the Stadium of Light was in our last Premier League season. In the previous game we'd beaten Hull 4-1 at the KC Stadium so this was the first time we had gone into a Premier League game on the back of an away win.
We lost the game 2-1 and it left us needing a minimum of five points from three remaining games if we were to have a chance of avoiding relegation.
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| Steven Thompson made a difference |
The raised hopes from Hull were soon extinguished. Sunderland were better than us in the first half during which Fraizer Campbell and Darren Bent scored to give them a 2-0 half time lead. The second goal shouldn't have counted. When Jordan Henderson played the ball forward for Campbell he was clearly offside but, as was so often the case that season, the offside decision went against us.
We deserved to be 2-0 down at half time, but what a transformation in the second half once Steven Thompson had replaced the disappointing Martin Paterson. Thommo was used far too sparingly during this season. He didn't feature much at all under Owen Coyle and was used mainly as a substitute by Brian Laws.
But he made a big difference here and gave us a fighting chance when he scored a much deserved goal nine minutes from time. Robbie Blake had just come on for the impressive Jack Cork as we pushed forward and he played a delightful ball to Thompson who took it in his stride before stroking the ball home.
It didn't lead to a grandstand finish but this was a game we could definitely have got something from had we started better in the first half.
The teams were;
Sunderland: Craig Gordon, Alan Hutton, Michael Turner, John Mensah (Anton Ferdinand 45), Kieran Richardson, Fraizer Campbell, Jordan Henderson, David Meyler (Boudewijn Zenden 88), Steed Malbranque, Darren Bent (Benjani 90), Kenwyne Jones. Subs not used: Trevor Carson, Phil Bardsley, Matt Kilgallon, Paulo Da Silva.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Michael Duff, Leon Cort, Danny Fox, Graham Alexander, Martin Paterson (Steven Thompson 45), Wade Elliott, Jack Cork (Robbie Blake 81), Chris Eagles, Steven Fletcher. Subs not used: Nicky Weaver, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan.
Previous Games against Sunderland
| Last 20 Years | |||||
| Season | Comp | Ven | Res | Att | Scorers |
| 1994/95 | Division One | a | 0-0 | 17,700 | |
| h | 1-1 | 15,121 | Eyres(pen) | ||
| 2003/04 | Division One | a | 1-1 | 29,852 | I Moore |
| h | 1-2 | 18,852 | Little | ||
| 2004/05 | Championship | a | 1-2 | 27,102 | Branch |
| h | 0-2 | 12,103 | |||
| 2006/07 | Championship | h | 2-2 | 14,798 | Lafferty(2) |
| a | 2-3 | 44,448 | Gray(pen), Elliott | ||
| 2009/10 | Premier League | h | 3-1 | 20,196 | Alexander(pen), Nugent(2) |
| a | 1-2 | 41,341 | Thompson | ||
| 2014/15 | Premier League | h | 0-0 | 20,026 | |
Click HERE to see all previous results against Sunderland