Met Pete Roberts at ground. Went to Monsoon Kitchen afterwards.

First time to Sunderland. Combined this with another Capital One Cup tie the following night in Newcastle. Stayed in a hotel in Newcastle for both nights and very glad that I did. Reached Sunderland by train (20 minutes) arriving just before 6 pm. Exited the central railway station into the main street and found myself virtually alone! Not a person or pub in sight. All the scene lacked was tumbleweed. Walked the 20 mins to the ground crossing the Wear, and did not pass a single pub on the way (very strange). The pre-advertised fanzone in front of the stadium had about seven people in it. OK, it was early, so I went to the Colliery Tavern. Friendly enough place but quite small and no real ale whatsoever. Stadium was impressive. I managed to get a ticket on the half-way line for £10, which proved to be very good value since Man City fielded all their star players: Toure, Aguero, Sterling, de Bruyne, Navas, Kolarov etc. This was much to everyone's surprise, including the home manager's, since Advocaat had left his better players, including Defoe, on the bench. Sunderland were the better side for 25 mins but found themselves 1-0 down, due to a stupid penalty given away by van Aanholt, who had a shocker. Borini had a goal wrongly ruled out, and Toivonen then directed a free header straight at the keeper, and when the corner was cleared De Bruyne scored with a neat finish on the break. 0-2. Ten minutes later it was 0-4, and, but for a missed sitter by Aguero, it would have been 0-5 at half-time. Ouch! City never got out of 3rd gear and coasted the rest of the game. There was barely a tackle made in the game, even when Cattermole replaced the ineffective Rodwell at half-time. By the way, nice statue of Bob Stokoe, one of the better statues I've seen outside a football ground.