Did I start the Reading match report off with something like "it was a game of two halves"? Terrible cliché, I know, but what applied on Tuesday applied pretty much in equal measure yesterday against Sunderland. Another 'game of two halves'. The result seems comfortable enough, but in reality, it should've been a lot more comfortable, and as it turned out, Sunderland will probably feel a little aggrieved at going away with nothing.

It took bloody ages to get to the ground yesterday. Another chance to train it in, but I hadn't realised there were engineering works between Basingstoke and Woking, so the Southampton-London trains were diverted via Havant and Guildford. Add the best part of an extra hour to the journey time! At least I'd started out nice and early. The journey home was worse. Missed the 1805 so had to go via Woking, bus to Basingstoke, then train to Southampton and one more to get home! Talking of which, is it just me, or has anybody else noticed the spawny little kids these days playing music through the speaker on their mobiles? Had to put with a terrible racket on the bus. What do they think? Its a mobile so somehow its different to a radio? Wish I'd been sat nearer. Would've given them very little doubt where their phones were going if they didn't turn them off! As it was, I just went to sleep. Anyway, back to the match report!

The team news didn't really come as too much of a surprise when it was announced in the ground. No King, Chimbonda, Malbranque or Keane. What was a little surprising was starting Huddlestone - back from his suspension - at centre-half alongside Dawson. Nice range of passing, but would he be capable enough to stop Kenwyne Jones? Unfortunately Boateng started in the middle, partnering Jenas with O'Hara deployed on the left and Lennon on the right. Defoe got a rare start, and - shocker - was skipper for the day! What came as a bit more of a surprise was that Kieran Richardson wasn't even in the Sunderland squad. Can only imagine he was either suspended or injured.

The Mackem traveling support was large. Amongst the largest that we see at the Lane. They started out reasonably vocal too, but the pattern of the first half soon had them quietened down. Two minutes in and an attack down the left somehow saw the ball crossed in by O'Hara with Berbatov getting a flick into the air off the ground for Lennon to come charging in, allowing him to poke past Craig Gordon. One-nil! Easy. How the ball got to where it did in the Sunderland box is bizarre. It was really shocking defending to allow it. They had plenty of chances to clear and failed.

While the pace wasn't frenetic to start with, as we crossed into about the twentieth minute all of a sudden there was action all over the pitch. A couple of decent attacks by Sunderland swiftly followed by Spurs counter-attacks. Actually, that was about it as good as it got for the Mackems. From there on we totally dominated the first half and how we only went in a single goal up defies belief. We could easily have scored another four.

Here's how I counted them..... a magnificent, and I do mean, magnificent ball over the top from Huddlestone to find Jenas running through the heart of the defence. He took it down really well and I think he probably half had a lifted shot, half wanted to play in Berbatov. As it was, Berbatov couldn't quite stretch to it and it went wide. We thought he should've probably gone with his left foot, but visions of Phil Babb cracking his nuts into the post a few years back soon dispelled that idea! It was probably a shame Jenas didn't hit the target himself. With the run he made and the first touch he displayed, it merited a goal.

Now, I can't remember exactly what order the next two chances came in, so bear with me if they're the wrong way 'round!

Another well worked Spurs move (predominantly from the right by Lennon I think) saw the ball delivered into the box and as Sunderland failed to clear properly it fell to Berbatov who smacked it, unfortunately to clip the top of the bar.

Then another brilliant run from Jenas bursting through the middle saw a layoff to Defoe who controlled the pass really well, held of a challenge, seemingly lost control of the ball, but won it back, and then launched a lovely chip that Gordon did really well to tip over. Mind you, he did reach it with both hands, and being as tall as he is, it would take some lob to beat him.

The fourth really great opportunity of the half again saw Gordon saving well. This time Berbatov beat the offside trap to shoot from long range, but the Sunderland keeper again came to their rescue.

We should've put the game to bed in the first half. Much like at Reading on Tuesday. But also much like at Reading on Tuesday as we entered the last five minutes of the half we seemed to ease up and all of a sudden Sunderland were winning a couple of corners and applying some late pressure. So frustrating to see the same pattern repeated just a few days after we'd seen it all at Reading!

Thankfully we didn't concede. Unfortunately, the parallels with the Reading game continued as the second half got under way. It was enough to make me think "Aaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!". It prompted a number of people sat around me to ask just what kind of half time team talk we have these days. We just took our foot off the gas and our eye off the ball. Sunderland came right back into it and while it took them time to start creating decent chances, they began to run the tempo of the game.

Their passing across the centre of midfield was miles better than ours. Nice, slick one-touch stuff, and because we'd (as usual) seemingly decided to drop back rather than hold the high line, it was almost like we were welcoming them on! Incredibly, in the first half Dawson had been urging the defence to hold a really high line at set pieces - almost at the half way line. In the second we seemed to hold the same line on the edge of our own box. What is going on here? Against an under-strength Reading and against Sunderland at home we may be able to get away with it. But play like that against - say - ManUre next Sunday at OT and we're done for.

The chances didn't exactly come thick and fast for Sunderland, and in reality, for every chance they created in the second half, we probably created one too. Their ones were certainly more threatening though. Of note in the half, Jones (I think) directed a header straight at Cerny and Dwight Yorke smashed one low from long range, but well wide. We had a couple of chances to match, the one I remember best being a snapshot volley from Berbatov that struck one of the Sunderland players to go wide for a corner.

At one-nil this game was far from over. Tainio had been thrown on to add a bit of solidity in the centre with Boateng shifted out to the right wing, swapping Lennon to the left. It generally worked, with Tainio preventing Sunderland having quite the same freedom to pass the ball across the centre of the pitch.

They still created probably the best chance of the half though. A run from the left wing led to a low shot that Cerny failed to hold. It looked like that would be the equaliser, but somehow, Cerny got himself up and threw himself at the ball as it was hammered goalward. A quality save. The comment from the bloke who always sits next to me was very telling - "Bet Robinson would've still been on the ground for the rebound". His days seem numbered. Robbo I mean. Not the bloke who sits next to me!

Chimbonda had also been introduced late on and didn't really do much, but he should've had a penalty. The one decent run he did make saw him clearly pushed over in the box, but neither the referee nor the assistant gave anything. Unreal. The performance of the ref had left a lot to be desired in general. He got a lot of decisions wrong both ways, and seemed very keen to blow his whistle very loudly to indicate such obvious things as throw-ins.

Thankfully for him the poor decision on the penalty didn't cost us as Keane broke through the offside trap from a long ball to strike from longish range. A fairly tame shot really. One that Gordon should've dealt with easily. He didn't. It was a bad mistake. As bad as most that Robbo, for example, has made. Squirmed under, and it was two-nil. Game over at that stage. Just as well too, because we really, really needed that second goal.

Sunderland had put up a decent fight in the second half. They are at least partly justified in feeling a little hard done by. But we have only ourselves to blame. With the stack of fantastic chances we created in the first half, to then ease off and drop back in the second..... well, I can only hope we don't do the same on Tuesday.

Cerny again did well in goal. He made up for spilling the shot late on by pulling off a great save from the rebound. Dawson and (perhaps surprisingly) Huddlestone were good in the first half and managed to keep their heads under pressure in the second. Maybe Dawson should've been a bit more demanding from the back line in the second half and dictated where the line was to be drawn? Huddlestone's passing in the first half was superb. The ball he played through to Jenas particularly was just brilliant. It did start to go awry more and more as the game went on, but you could see the massive difference it brought to our game having him back in the side to pass the ball.

Lee and Stalteri did OK at full back. Nothing more. Stalteri didn't look quick enough to keep pace with Sunderland, and perhaps with Richardson playing, we'd have been more exposed at the back. Jenas continued to do what he seems to do best - strong, aggressive running from the middle. He should've scored himself when receiving the ball from Huddlestone given the superb run he'd made, and it was a shame his strong run and pass to Defoe didn't lead to a goal from the chip either.

Three more points then, and given the Newcaslte result (bet the Mackem fans were pissing themselves about that all the way home!), we hopped up one place in the table.

Obviously we'll play a much different team at the start of the game on Tuesday. You'd expect King and Chimbonda to start, assuming the latter hasn't got the hump. Probably Huddlestone partnering Jenas in the centre and Malbranque starting on the left. And back to the usual front partnership of Keane and Berbatov. Hopefully that'll be sufficient to stop us dropping so deep in the second half and allowing the opposition to attack us. We haven't paid the price in the last two games. We've just been lucky.

I suppose its worth saying too that we kept another clean sheet yesterday. Two on the trot now with a one-nil away and a two-nil at home. Any takers for the last time we did that? Pompey and Man City just before Christmas. And the next result?..... Two-one away defeat against..... the Arsehole. Let's hope we can do better this time!