Six-Pointer

By: Lucas | November 30th, 2007

Sunderland will play Derby County tomorrow in a game between newly promoted sides, one which everyone’s been calling a “six-pointer.” Is this just a ploy to get neutrals to care about a game between two teams in the drop zone?

I understand the implications at stake for either team should they lose: Sunderland need to get their act together soon, because they play Chelsea next, and Man Utd and a strong Villa side also in December. And Derby…well Derby just can’t afford many more losses before their season really is officially in the shitter. There are still 24 or 25 games left on the schedule, and the bottom of the table is still very bunched up, 9 teams within 7 points of one another, and it’s only November (for today anyway).

Do you agree with these quotes, that the match really is a “six-pointer?”

Roy Keane: “We have got Derby at home who are not having the best of times, like ourselves, so maybe it is what you class as a six-pointer.”
New Derby manager Paul Jewell: “Sunderland’s another game, a very crucial six-pointer if you like.”
Sunderland Echo: “Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones will be fir [sic] for Sunderland’s six-pointer against Derby on saturday.” (Assuming the author of the article means “fit”, then that’s good news: it would be murder to lose Jones at this point.)
JP Lonergan for SetantaSports.com, in an article wherein Charlie Hurley throws his support to currently struggling defender Paul McShane (who wears the number 6 shirt): “McShane and his fellow defenders…face what is already a massive six-pointer against Derby County at The Stadium of Light on Saturday.”
And for good measure, Keano again, speaking to SAFC.com: “It’s very much in the six-pointer bracket. It’s Paul Jewell’s first game there and he has an excellent record but we should fancy our chances.”

OK, I get it: this is a game of massive importance for both teams. Most people have already got Derby (who currently sit at the bottom of the table with, you guessed it, 6 points) pencilled in for relegation this season. And if Sunderland — coming off a six-goal drubbing last weekend at Goodison Park — don’t stop sucking on defense, and start winning the games they should (Derby at Stadium of Light is definitely a match they should win), they’ll find themselves trying to make the difficult climb out of the toilet for the remainder of the season.

Six-pointer. It’s got a nice ring to it. Give it a try.