The football crazy 41-year-old postponed his romantic stay in Rome to see Sunderland take on Manchester City at the Stadium of Light.

The bank worker only married 28-year-old Jennifer Doran a week ago in his home city of Portland, Oregon.

His bride shares Kip's interest in football and agreed to put their wedding celebrations on hold to watch the Black Cats in their bid to seal Premiership survival.

Kip is one of a growing band of Black Cats' supporters in Portland. He started supporting the team after seeing them when they visited Oregon on a pre-season tour.

He said: "We post news and scores and so on about Sunderland on an Internet messageboard.

"There's a pub in Portland where we can see some of the Sunderland matches.

"Sometimes they are on at about 6am, but if we have to get up early, that's what we do."

The couple are spending five days in the UK before flying out for a 10-day stay in the Italian capital.

Jennifer said: "I'm a West Ham fan, really. I taught in Essex a few years ago and bonded with the people down there.

"It means we've both got a strong interest in the English Premier League and we actually met at our club in the the U.S, the Portland Timbers.

"We have had a great time over here and all the folks have been very kind."

Kip added: "The Timbers have about 2,000 fans, of those, about 500 are active and among that group there are around 15 of us who follow Sunderland."

While the pair were on Wearside, local fans held a special "wedding reception" for the couple.

Super fan Gary "Sunderland AFC" Lamb and pal Paul Marshall helped organise the surprise event in Seaham.

"We first met Kip when we went over to Oregon a few years ago to watch Sunderland's pre-season tour," said Gary. "We couldn't believe the reception we got over there.

"The people were amazing and the club seems to have really built up a following.

"Since then, about 32 of them have been over to watch a couple of Sunderland games and it has really developed from there."

More than 80 people turned up for the bash on Friday, which was also attended by the Mayor of Sunderland. "It's amazing that Kip has taken time out from his honeymoon to come and see us and watch the game," added Gary.

"He really wanted his wife to meet us, but they had no idea we'd be throwing them a party."