DERBY day: a time for heroes. The stage is set for someone to take their place in folklore.
Boro's defeat at West Ham raised the stakes considerably in the coming Tees-Wear tussle at the Riverside. It could be a season defining moment. As Boro suffered a morale denting reverse at Upton Park, the Mackems put their wobble behind them to beat Reading and move level on points. That makes the A19 derby clash more than just a battle for local bragging rights.
For Boro it is time to deliver on the early season promise and they need a display that is both spirited and stylish if they are to succeed in their bid to get people out of the pubs, put bums on seats and win the waverers over to Gareth Southgate's new look side.
The general consensus on Teesside - apart from possibly in the Billingham badlands where there is a high stripe count along the frontier (have you seen that house!) - is that Sunderland are a poor side, that barring an investment in a quality keeper they have wasted a lot of money in assembling a Championship side for next season and that no matter how scared of being given the hairdryer treatment by Roy Keane their limitations remain and the chances are they willl find themselves among the strugglers come May.
Yet they were a poor side and en route to a wretched relegation on a record low of 15 points when they came to the Riverside and beat us 2-0 last time - typical Boro! - so we must be wary.
It may be early in the season but it is a watershed moment. With far tougher fixtures on the horizon - and our so called easy start has been far less productive in points terms than most of us had reckoned on - a defeat would be a major blow to hopes that the campaign will be played out mainly in the top half.
Worse still, it would pile the pressure on Southgate from the supporters to rethink his policy of attacking in favour of something more cautious and maybe put doubt in his own mind too. If he wavers and reverts to the McClaren tactical straitjacket of negativity then the political advantages of publicly advocating an entertaining style would be lost.
But pressure makes diamonds. With the heightened passion, bite and expectations the stage is set for someone to produce some derby dynamite, to seize the moment and become an instant folk hero.
Hickton ramming home two penalties, Bernie climbing the Holgate fence after just 17 seconds, Jamie Pollock being taunted as ugly then replying with a beauty at Roker Park, Emerson rehabilitating himself with a rocket shot and jig at the new Stadium of Light, Marco Branca scoring on his league debut, Festa monstering Kevin Phillips, Chris Riggott and Malcolm Christie marking their arrival with goals on Wearside... derby days are the perfect platform to carve out a place in history.
Boro need some big performances if they are to claim the victory they need to get the bandwagon rolling again. And they will need two players in particular to shrug off the pressure from the visiting fans and deliver the goods.
Firstly Julio Arca, fast becoming a Boro crowd favourite for his workrate, creativity and zest, will be in the spotlight because he remains a hero to Sunderland fans. He was the one bright spot in what was a traumatic time of long ball losers Peter Reid, Howard Wilkinson and Mick McCarthy and successive sorry relegations with record low points totals that turned the club into a joke and forced their fans to endure a lifetime of public humiliation.
Arca will no doubt get a warm reception from the visiting fans - he admits he is lauded as a hero when spotted out and about near his Washington home - but after a respectful nod to acknowledge the ovation he must break the vsitors' hearts and cement his position in Teesside folklore by engineering an historic victory over his former club. He owes us.
In the last Riverside derby Arca got one of the Sunderland goals - a sizzling free-kick - as a hapless team already holed below the waterline won 2-0. A bit of historical symmetry and a great goal for Boro this time would be a nice touch.
Mido will need to be strong too. Stripes and a Metro link are not the only thing that Newcastle and Sunderland share and the Egyptian hitman can expect the same kind of twisted taunting that he got from the Geordies. Our friends in the North are jointly culpable of the sick ‘paedo’ chants over the years and the media storm after the Newcastle visit will encourage them to think touchy Teessiders have “bitten”.
Mido must respond in the same way he did to the Newcastle baiting: with strength on the ball, a neat touch, vision and deadly finishing.
But heroes can emerge from anywhere. Now would be a good time for local lad Jonathan Woodgate to score his first for the club for instance, or for Luke Young to make amends for the own goal at Upton Park or Lee Dong Gook to silence his critics with a wonder goal.
And the stage is set too for Tuncay to prove his worth. The free-roaming frontman, a Juninhoesque demi-God in Turkey, was unveiled amid big talk from the top table of “spectacular” signings but has had only had very limited pitch time so far, prompting the usual tabloid knife-twisting and suitably robust response.
But the injury to Jeremie Aliadiere will give him the chance to show what he can do. Imagine the movement, the deft control and the willingness to have a pop that carved out the three good chances against West Ham being reproduced against Sunderland - but with added accuracy.
Tuncay has bags of skill and a fine array of tricks but he really needs a good game and a goal to kickstart his Boro career. Now is a good time.
MEANWHILE... I was looking on YouseTube for the Emerson goal at the Stadium of Light last night - it was there a few days ago but now has the ominous legend "footage has been removed by user", a phrase usually associated with the arrival of the Premiership copyright police - when I found this compilation of grainy old 70s derby action. Enjoy....
And here's some perm powered dream-weaving including the Emerson anti-Mackem missile:
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