Roker Report Score Predictions: Fleetwood Town v Sunderland

Well. Our first complete wash out for our panel, due to their faith in Sunderland to overcome League Two opposition and progress to the second round of the FA Cup. They clearly expect far too much.

Zero points across the board means it’s as you were in our table, which remains tight with four points separating top from bottom. This round it’s anyone’s guess, with an extra point on offer for predicting the outcome of a penalty shoot-out, but will anyone go for it?

Let’s find out what our panel go for in this round of predictions...

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Philip Butler predicts...

Score Prediction: Fleetwood Town 0 - 0 Sunderland

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: No goalscorer

Just like Saturday’s cup game I feel like tonight’s game will go one of two ways: either there will be loads of goals with both teams not bothering to defend, or there’ll be no goals with both teams not bothering to attack.

Since Phil Parkinson is our manager, I’m going for the latter and a bore draw seems likely in this dead rubber game.

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Malcolm Dugdale predicts...

Score Prediction: Fleetwood Town 0 - 3 Sunderland

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Chris Maguire

While this is a dead rubber, I am predicting that Sunderland will do exactly what I don’t expect them to, purely because that is normally the case.

In response to the poor loss and poor all round performance (barring one or two players as per our ratings pod) against the mighty Mansfield, Phil is going to put a rocket up several backsides and make it clear that isn’t good enough.

He is going to field an alternate team bursting with youth, ambition and exuberance, and we are going to be 2-0 up by half time.

The main reasons for the success will be attributed to a midfield master class by an energetic Maguire, with attacking prowess from Grigg, who will score the third on around 70 minutes, enabling a demonstration of ball retention and control for the last 20.

Assistance and applause will be forthcoming toward the ambitious understudies who made such a difference, namely Embleton, Neil and Diamond.

We don’t play in the theatre of nightmares Phil, so let’s see if you can avoid another and make my dream happen.

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Matthew Foster predicts...

Score Prediction: Fleetwood Town 1 - 1 Sunderland

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Jack Diamond

I’m completely deflated after Saturday. Another poor performance, and no penalty or red card in sight to rescue the result, and there can be no better way to cheer us up after being dumped out of the FA Cup at the first time of asking, than a game in the glorious Papa John’s Trophy...

Like pineapple on a pizza, the sheer thought of this competition makes me feel sick. And no less, it comes against Joey Barton’s Fleetwood Town, a man who revels in any opportunity to speak about Sunderland and get one over us.

Even if this game gave us something to fight for, I still would find it extremely difficult to muster any enthusiasm for it. It’s a dead rubber, with both sides through and this will only decide on who finishes top of the pile, and genuinely I don’t care either way.

I’m unsure how Parkinson will line us up in this one, but my only hope if that we don’t lose consecutive games, even a draw would suffice, and I can perhaps scrape the extra point by winning in the penalty shootout.

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Jack Howe-Gingell predicts...

Score Prediction: Fleetwood Town 0 - 1 Sunderland

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Elliot Embleton

The worst competition in club football is upon us, once again, and now with an even worse sponsor.

Fleetwood have been solid this season, finding themselves currently 10th in League One. Joey Barton’s side always seem to cause us some issues, and he will be keen to kick the boot in (and talk about it for another ten years).

New signing Callum Camps has proved an astute buy with five goals this season, and a rejuvenated Ched Evans leads their scoring charts with six. Both will be a threat, and we will need to handle them accordingly.

The Mansfield result was a complete disgrace, so it is paramount we bounce back with a better performance at a minimum.

I’m unsure if we will get much rotation but I’d like to see Embleton start as he was at least encouraging in his cameo vs. Mansfield, and will back him to deliver the result for us, with ideally us getting back to tougher ways at the back.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

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Will Jones predicts...

Score Prediction: Fleetwood Town 1 - 0 Sunderland

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: No goalscorer

My first loss prediction. But alas this is in a game which means nothing. We are through, they are through, it is a glorified friendly.

However, saying that, this is Joey Barton. He WILL want to beat us, rub it in our face and show off. We have to come into his game having both eyes firmly on Saturday, I believe it will be a full 2nd team and one that will not be able to deal with Fleetwood’s physicality.

What we saw Saturday was nothing other than atrocious. The only light being the impressive McFadzean during his first start for the club as well as Diamond looking energetic. We should expect these both to start tomorrow.

All I want to see tomorrow is despite our second string, we put up a fight against a Fleetwood side, showing Parky why they should be in the first team.

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Martin Wanless predicts...

Score Prediction: Fleetwood Town 2 - 0 Sunderland

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: No goalscorer

After Saturday’s embarrassing defeat in the FA Cup First Round against a team who’d not won for 25 years or so, we have the ‘pleasure’ of facing Joey Barton’s Fleetwood in the tin pot pizza trophy.

While Parkinson rotated the team at the weekend, he brought in players that should have easily been able to perform at a significantly higher level than they showed on Saturday.

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Parkinson will want to get a win to get the team back on track for the weekend, however he won’t want to risk the likes of Wright and Leadbitter, so we’ll likely have the same issues we had at the weekend.

I don’t see how anything positive can come out of this game. It has echoes of Scunthorpe away last year. 2-0 to Fleetwood.