Sunderland know when their fifth round FA Cup tie will take place - but not where
The date and kick off time for Sunderland’s FA Cup fifth round clash have been confirmed - though fans will not know the destination until just days before.
The Black Cats beat Oxford United in the fourth round at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday, and were subsequently drawn against Port Vale or Bristol City. The two had been due to play at Vale Park over the weekend but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Sunderland will face the winner of that rearranged fixture on Sunday, March 8th. The game will kick off at 1.30pm and will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+. The Black Cats will not know the actual destination of their trip until Tuesday, March 3rd - when the pair will play their fourth round tie.
Sunderland will earn £120,000 as a broadcast fee, and the winner will also pocket £238,500 in additional prize money. Port Vale are currently struggling at the foot of League One, 12 points adrift of safety having recently replaced boss Darren Moore with former Northampton boss Jon Brady. Bristol City sit ninth in the Championship under boss Gerhard Struber, but just one point off the play-off places.
The FA Cup pledge from head coach and players after Oxford United win
While cautious not to talk up Sunderland’s cup hopes too highly after the win at Oxford, Régis Le Bris pledged to continue picking the strongest team possible to try and steer the club in the latter stages.
“You never know what can happen in a cup competition,” Le Bris said.
“You never know who your opponents are going to be as you progress through the different rounds. The one thing I would say is that at Everton and Oxford, we played our best team in both matches. That is something we will continue to do. We went strong, we went with good energy and real ambition. We will see whether that is enough in the next rounds.”
Dennis Cirkin, meanwhile, said the dressing room understood they had a huge opportunity to go on a cup run this season.
“I think these cup games provide an opportunity for us. Obviously, we want to get to the final, we want to try and win it. But yeah, a lot of us lads can do the job, and I'm just happy to get the opportunities. So I'm just you know, staying confident, training really hard and, you know, got to do the basics really well. And then when you get an opportunity, you can showcase your abilities.
“It has definitely been emphasised in our meetings how much of an opportunity this is, just to make sure there's no underestimating what this is and how much of a chance we have this year. So, yeah, the emphasis is there.”
Sunderland will be without Trai Hume and Noah Sadiki for the fifth round tie, after both picked up their second yellows of the competition in the Oxford win. The Black Cats remain hopeful that both Bertrand Traore and Granit Xhaka will be back from injury for the game, however.
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