City won’t be at Wembley-just like us.

 

I was remarkably relaxed about the penalty shoot-out. Over confidently as it transpired. Despite the gushing platitudes of the Sky pundits, who seem to believe Sunderland’s place in league one is some monstrous miscarriage of justice, I thought City looked every bit the league one leaders with a very measured game that I'd imagine most of us expected. On that lovely pitch, City passed the ball around with accuracy. The statistics for the first period of the game had the Imps ahead on possession, not that it matters a jot but nevertheless they did.

The first half was pronounced a damp squib by the panel, I don’t know what they expected. I imagine they thought City would approach the game like some wannabe non-league outfit giving it everything they had before the roof caved in, leaving Sunderland to serenely negotiate the remainder of the game once they’d put five past us.

Of course, it didn’t play out like that. You could see the signs there as City increasingly desperately tried to hang on to their lead and then the dam broke. Just the once.

Thereafter it was the dreaded penalties. Did City look discombobulated? I didn’t think so. People will point the finger at Remy Howarth, or triallist A as I like to call him, but not me. For my money it is all about goalkeepers and Alex Palmer got a hand to most or was it all of them? Unfortunately Palmer was unable to get more on any of them and It’s Sunderland who go to Wembley without support.

I would have liked this young side to get to the national stadium. I would have liked the club to get the prize money. I wouldn’t put it any more forcefully than that. City have bigger fish to fry and can now approach the task in hand with a single vision. For all Sky TV’s fawning, City go into the final approach in considerably better shape than Sunderland. One day, maybe the Imps will get the recognition they deserve. Last night I felt like Bournemouth fans must have felt, performing in the premiership but everyone expecting them to drop off their perch. They did of course, eventually but I bet they enjoyed the ride.

So good luck to Sunderland in the final, I’ve a feeling they might need some. We go on towards a horizon few of us have been over and few of us expected to see. Sky TV thought we were the poor relations. Maybe we are. Personally, I couldn’t care less.