Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has said that he does not see the FA Cup as a distraction for his club, but rather as a blessing in disguise. Sunderland will be hosting lower league Kidderminster Town at the Stadium of Light, which is a fixture that they are expected to comfortably win. However, the last few weeks have been very hectic for the manager in terms of the schedule. He says that the match against Kidderminster provides a great opportunity to rest some of the players and give those who have not taken part much in the campaign.
Sunderland will be coming on the back of a morale boosting 2-1 win over Manchester United on penalties. This Capital One Cup win has given them the chance to play in the final of the competition at Wembley. They will face Manchester City in this final, but it seems that Sunderland are also planning on reaching the FA Cup final as well. Even though Poyet has said that he will be using reserve players, he says that the desire to win has not diminished amongst the squad.
After two wins over Salisbury and Peterborough United, Kidderminster were beaten by Dartford 2-1 in the previous match. They will be hoping for a better performance and a return to winning ways in the match against Sunderland.
“The cup win over Manchester United was amazing. But the game against Kidderminster shows how fast things are coming around – Wednesday: Man United, Saturday: Kidderminster. Personally, I think it’s a good thing to have a cup game now. I would have been a bit more worried had we had a league game this weekend. It was such a high for the players on Wednesday and there has not been much rest for the players, so we could easily have been caught out,” said Poyet, who will be without Dossena for this match.