More pain than pleasure for long-suffering Sunderland fans but can FA Cup run spark some momentum?

When Jeremy Bentham devised his theory of hedonism, he had clearly envisaged a scenario where Sunderland played Leicester City U21’s, Gillingham and Scunthorpe in cup competitions within seven days of each other.
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One such fixture is exciting enough, but three in quick succession is likely to capture the imagination of daring thrill seekers across Wearside.

In a sense it pains me to be so flippant about cup competitions because I have always been a big believer that a good cup run can generate momentum and a feel good factor around the club.

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Last season I was delighted by our progression in the Checkatrade Trophy despite many naysayers playing down the significance of the competition.

Sunderland striker Will Grigg warms up.Sunderland striker Will Grigg warms up.
Sunderland striker Will Grigg warms up.

I got carried away in the belief that a Wembley victory would banish much of the pain we had felt for the previous few years and in years to come be seen as the start of Sunderland AFC’s rebirth.

Of course, we ended up losing on penalties and our association with Wembley heartbreak became even more entrenched. This was compounded even more by our play-off final defeat.

That’s why this season, I absolutely do not want us to get to the ‘home of football’ under any circumstances.

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I am still suffering from Wembley fatigue and even a Leasing.com Trophy victory would bring me little pleasure unless we coupled it with promotion.

In fact, winning the trophy designed to give lower league club’s the opportunity to have a big day out would only reinforce our status as a third tier football club.

Even the FA Cup, which is traditionally the most prestigious honour that Sunderland have even the remotest possibility of winning doesn’t fill me with any great enthusiasm.

The inevitably reduced crowd won’t even reduce the beer queues at half time, as only one stand being open makes over crowding on the concourse worse than most league fixtures.

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This presents a dilemma as a football supporter, because obviously I want Sunderland to win every single game they play.

I especially want us to win because in the short term we need to build some momentum ahead of challenging league fixtures against Coventry and Burton Albion at the end of the month.

From Phil Parkinson’s point of view, it is important for him to secure back-to-back victories for the first time since taking over as Sunderland manager.

To a certain extent he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t in cup competitions this season.

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Victories over unglamourous opposition in front of fewer than 10,000 fans at the SOL are likely to be forgotten about before supporters have made their way back over the Wearmouth Bridge, whereas defeats will give his early win percentage an unimpressive appearance.

Of course, these fixtures also provides him an invaluable opportunity to experiment with players that he’s not an opportunity to work with so far and give youngsters such as Benji Kimpioka a chance to progress.

What I am trying to say is that I want Sunderland to win every game we take part in, but stop just short of winning anything.

Perhaps, the most sensible solution is to play our way into form by winning as many games as possible, before taking a leaf out of Jurgen Klopp’s book and threaten to withdraw from the competition.