Ground: Sunderland, The Stadium of Light
Competition: FA Cup 4th Round 2014/15
Result: Sunderland 0-0 Fulham
Pie: Chicken Balti
Price: £3.00
Comments: On a weekend where the FA Cup got its magical groove back Fulham ground out a predictably drab 0-0. While Bradford were scoring goals for fun at Stamford Bridge, and Middlesbrough were kicking City’s money bags aside, Fulham were huffing and puffing into the immovable heap that was Sunderland’s backline. In a skirmish filled with ineptitude and profligacy neither team could muster enough to claim a goal, let alone a victory.

Shunning his potential and showing what an outstandingly mediocre player he is, Rodwell called it quits and got himself a red card to hand Fulham the initiative which they fumbled and dropped almost immediately. With a man advantage Fulham blew their best hope of progression to the next round. Unlike Fulham I rallied past an earlier foot long Subway, Chicken Teriyaki if you were wondering, to force down a pie. I didn’t need a pie, but it’s my duty to eat them so there really was no option.

I retain fond memories of the pies at Sunderland, maybe because quite often we won up here, and the day’s offering was a worthy addition to their pie pantheon. Naturally it was a Balti, unnaturally it was quite spicy. A Balti should always have a kick, and this one certainly warmed the cockles high up in the Stadium of Light. Elsewhere the pastry was that favoured puffy, flakey self with a sprinkling of seeds on top. Seeds are worth a whole rating point in themselves.

Meaty, spicey, flakey, seedy. What more could I ask for from a pie? Not a whole lot. Wasteful, tedious, slow, narrow and generally poor. What more I could ask for from a Fulham? A fair bit actually.

Rating: 8/10