Ah, the dizzy heights of not having to play in the first round of the League Cup.

A scintillating trip down memory lane for you all here, as I remember as much as I can from an enchanted evening in the West Midlands.

It was August, I think it was quite warm? What I can remember is that I was staying over for this game, and was meeting my uncle (Michael, ‘Too Early’, for fans of another podcast I do) for some beers.

What actually happened was my train was late, hey, thanks Cross Country, and he got stuck in traffic, so we actually met in the away end.

Gus Poyet’s then Premier League Sunderland travelled to face the ever-booed Lee Clark’s Blues side, with the sound of current Number One “Am I Wrong?” By Nico & Vinz (no? no me neither) ringing in their ears. Interestingly for the purposes of this article, Sunderland named only 10 players in their starting line up and scored only two goals in this 3-0 win, which is a unique fact in itself. Anyway, the gigantic Costel Pantilimon started in goal, Connor Wickham played up front and there were a collection of other players in the middle.

It’s here where I have to be honest with you and tell you that I have absolutely zero recollection of any of the game. At all.

Listen, I didn’t tell you that this was going to be any good.

All three of Sunderland’s two goals came in the last quarter hour of the game; the beautiful Jordi Gomez opening the scoring, which was later completed by Connor Wickham.

Everyone presumably went home happy, with dreams of another cup run to the League Cup final on the horizon. Well, not exactly that as we of course lost 2-1 in the next round at home to… Stoke City. Oh well. The night, and therefore this article, didn’t end there for me though – you lucky lot there’s more for you to read!

Frequenters of Birmingham, a city centre which unfairly gets a bad reputation, may be aware of the indie nightclub ‘Snobs’.

Not the current ‘Snobs Bar & Grill, because they have moved and subsequently ruined it – but the original place on Smallbrook Queensway. It was, and I cannot stress this enough, fantastic.

It had everything a 22-year-old loser from the North East could possibly want from a nightclub. Incredible music, an alarming lack of any safety measures whatsoever, and two rooms of the best indie, punk, rock, soul etc etc… ah, I miss it. You could almost see Mike Skinner penning The Streets’ classic ‘Blinded By The Lights’ while thinking about this place.

Anyway, we went there. Until about 4am. It was fantastic, and the ideal way to celebrate a Second Round Cup win against lower league opposition. Which I can recall nothing about.

Predictions for Friday? 1-1, Jack Clarke scoring, and probably a night around the pubs of Digbeth – Snobs, I miss you.

Thank you for sharing the worst trip down memory lane in the history of time with me.