All the talk has recently been about Fraizer Campbell's comeback, with two great goals at the Stadium of Light, but this game showed that James McLean is making a strong case not to be overshadowed - he made another massive contribution to the rise of this club and to this 1-0 win over Stoke.

Martin O'Neill had called for continued focus ahead of this game, and he was pleased at the end. Sunderland adapted very well to the snowy conditions.

Stoke away is always a difficult game, our 3-2 defeat there against the run of play this time last year set us off on a difficult run which ended up taking us near to the relegation zone before we pulled up to 10th spot. Things are very different at the club now, thanks to the influence of Martin O'Neill, with 6 wins from the last 9, and a real momentum appearing which took us above Stoke City in the Premiership table in midweek.

This has been the week when Sunderland fans could celebrate the return of Fraizer Campbell. He was on a good run of scoring when a cruel knee injury intervened in his incipient rise to Premiership superstar status. A friend of mine who is a Hull fan wishes that he rots in hell for walking out on his club, but as a Sunderland fan I am very pleased he was tempted to Wearside to pick up his striking career.

For last Sunday’s FA Cup 4th round vs. Boro’ the Black Cats featured 22 Mignolet, 02 Bardsley, 05 Brown (Turner - 60'), 11 Richardson, 16 O'Shea, 07 Larsson, 08 Gardner, 15 Vaughan (Colback - 80'), 23 McClean, 28 Sessegnon, 10 Wickham (Campbell - 46' ). As I mentioned in my preview, this game was not a formality, and Middlesborough soon showed how well they had prepared tactically for this match-up. They were combative in midfield, and showed a fearless attitude throughout. On this display, one would back them for promotion.

So tomorrow the Boro’ fans have to make an early start on Sunday morning and several thousand of them will make the trip to the Stadium of Light. This their biggest Derby game and I for one hope to see our southern neighbours back in the Premiership soon.

I loved the BBC write-up for this game: This is only the fifth time they have been drawn to meet in the FA Cup. Sunderland have progressed three times, and Middlesbrough once. The most recent was a 3-1 win by the Teesside club in the fourth round in January 1975 at Ayresome Park. Maths GCSE anybody?

Swansea put in a refreshing performance at the stadium of Light, but ultimately capitulated after two excellent goals from the home team.

Sunderland welcomed back Wes Brown in the following line-up: 22 Mignolet, 02 Bardsley, 05 Brown, 11 Richardson, 16 O'Shea, 06 Cattermole, 07 Larsson (Elmohamady 89), 15 Vaughan (Gardner 78), 23 McClean, 28 Sessegnon, 52 Bendtner (Wickham 12). The visitors fielded 01 Vorm, 02 Williams, 03 Taylor, 04 Caulker, 22 Rangel, 07 Britton (Routledge 78), 11 Sinclair, 12 Dyer, 24 Allen, 42 Sigurdsson (McEachran 66), 10 Graham.

Sunderland’s 2011 started really well, and then also ended on a high. I will try to explain some of the dross that was served up in between in the paragraphs below, but let me first take you back a year.

We entered January 2011 in 6th spot in the league, then in May finished the 2010-11 Premiership season in 10th, and actually also ended the year in 10th spot. So what was the problem? That all sounds fine and dandy, but some total junk was served up in between, with just 6 wins recorded in the best league in the world up from February 1st until Steve Bruce’s departure. The longsuffering home fans had to suffer most, and we went 9 games with just a single home win from early January 2011 until the end of the season.

This was an exciting but ultimately fruitless visit to the capital where Sunderland matched the home team on all fronts except on the most crucial one, taking our chances.

Nicklas Bendtner returned to the Black Cats’ squad at Chelsea, after a knee injury which kept him out of the FA Cup win at Peterborough. Fellow front man Fraizer Campbell is close to full fitness and available for the first time since August 2010 after recovering from two serious knee injuries. Jack Colback, Wes Brown, Titus Bramble and Craig Gordon remain on the casualty list. The visitors’ line-up was 22 Mignolet, 02 Bardsley, 11 Richardson (Wickham 80), 12 Kilgallon (Turner 45+1), 16 O'Shea, 06 Cattermole, 07 Larsson, 15 Vaughan (Gardner 69), 23 McClean, 28 Sessegnon, 52 Bendtner. Subs were 20 Westwood, 04 Turner, 08 Gardner, 18 Meyler, 27 Elmohamady, 10 Wickham, 17 Ji Dong-Won.

Florent Malouda dropped to the bench for Chelsea, as he did not train on Wednesday or Thursday. Daniel Sturridge and John Terry were both passed fit but the game came too soon for Michael Essien, Branislav Ivanovic and John Obi Mikel. Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are away on African Nations Cup duty, in the following team: 01 Cech, 03 Cole, 04 David Luiz, 17 Bosingwa, 26 Terry, 06 Romeu, 07 Ramires, 08 Lampard (Essien 73), 16 Meireles, 09 Torres, Mata (Malouda 85).

Sunderland welcomed back Phil Bardsley in another one-off defensive formation in the following line-up: Mignolet, Gardner, O'Shea, Kilgallon, Bardsley, Larsson, Richardson, Cattermole, Vaughan, McClean, Sessègnon. Subs: Westwood, Turner, Wickham, Ji, Meyler, Elmohamady, Noble. Great to see Turner back on the bench, but clearly Bendtner was being “rested” for this key away fixture, with Connor Wickham being on hand for an appearance should his muscle be required upfront..

The Peterborough line up was: Lewis, Alcock, Bennett, Zakuani, Rowe, Tunnicliffe, Wootton, Tomlin, Boyd, Sinclair, Taylor. Subs: Jones, Little, Newell, Thompson, Kearns, Gordon-Hutton, Lawler.

For today’s challenging game at Peterborough United Sunderland will likely miss out on the help of defenders Wes Brown (groin), Titus Bramble (Achilles/calf) and Phil Bardsley (thigh) who are all doubtful as the team chases its third successive win. Aside from long-term casualties Craig Gordon and Fraizer Campbell, 3rd choice keeper Keiren Westwood, Jack Colback (ankle), Connor Wickham (knee) and midfielder Sebastian Larsson are out. Look for O'Neill to include young players such as Meyler and MacLean.

Another game, another excellent win for Sunderland. This match-up with Wigan provided our second 4-goal haul against them over the past year, and there were some great strikes among these latest goals. But most importantly this win demonstrated the new levels of confidence now running through this admittedly injury-hit squad. Teamwork is at a high, and after a few wins the speculative efforts tried by the Black Cats are ending up as goals – 3 of yesterday’s were unstoppably in the top corner of the goal.
As well as long-term injured Craig Gordon and Fraizer Campbell, Sunderland had fitness concerns over Michael Turner, Keiren Westwood, Titus Bramble, Phil Bardsley, Seb Larsson, Kieran Richardson and Jack Colback. The line up was.22 Mignolet, 11 Richardson (Meyler 67), 12 Kilgallon, 16 O'Shea, 06 Cattermole, 08 Gardner (Elmohamady 83), 14 Colback, 15 Vaughan, 23 McClean (Ji Dong-Won 89), 28 Sessègnon, 52 Bendtner.

The Wigan line-up was 26 Al Habsi, 02 Gohouri, 03 Alcaraz, 23 Stam (Sammon 58), 31 Figueroa, 04 McCarthy, 07 Crusat (Moses 39), 08 Watson (Diame 86), 14 Gomez, 19 Jones, 20 Rodallega