Mick McCarthy labelled it an ‘ape’ rather than a monkey on their back, but Sunderland finally got their first win of the season in a 0-2 victory at the Riverside Stadium.
With a squad desperately short on quality, they looked destined for a season of struggle from the very beginning when they were comfortably beaten 3-1 at home to Charlton Athletic at the Stadium of Light.
It didn’t get any easier after that, with another four defeats to come before they finally picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at home
to West Bromwich Albion.
Whilst some of those defeats were narrow enough, Sunderland clearly lacked quality and, more importantly, a goalscorer. They had managed just two goals in their opening five games.
McCarthy faced an unenviable task, and it was sad to see a manager struggle so badly given the success he had brought to the team on a shoestring budget the previous season in the Championship.
He had taken a group of players who many had written off and somehow got them promoted. Now, just months later, he was being asked to keep a squad that was clearly short of Premier League quality in the division.
Every week brought another defeat and another opportunity for McCarthy to defend his players.
He had repeatedly insisted that Sunderland were playing better than their results suggested, but eventually even the most positive manager needs something tangible to show for those performances.
After picking up their first point against West Brom, Sunderland travelled to Middlesbrough hoping that this game could finally prove to be their turning point.
And, at long last, they got the result.
Tommy Miller gave Sunderland the lead after just two minutes before Julio Arca doubled the advantage with a free-kick in the second half.
Kelvin Davis produced one of the performances of his Sunderland career in goal and, for once, everything seemed to fall into place.
Sunderland had won.
Their first Premier League victory since 2002.
For McCarthy, the relief was obvious.
“It feels a lot better coming in after we have won than it does coming in and trying to explain that we have played well and been slapped again,” he said.
“It’s a nice feeling. It was a good performance. I have been saying all along that we have learnt how to play in this league because we have played well, but we haven’t won.”
“We got used to winning last year but this season we have had to suffer and I’ve had to talk up performances.
“The important part was learning how to win so hopefully that will help us believe in ourselves. Today is a reward for sticking together and working hard.”
Then came the line that perfectly summed up the relief surrounding the victory.
“It wasn’t a monkey off our backs – it was the whole Planet of the Apes!”
You could understand why McCarthy was so desperate for this win.
He had spent weeks trying to convince everyone that his team were capable of competing in the Premier League, whilst knowing better than most just how limited his options were.
Now, finally, he had a victory to point towards.
“It’s a great result away from home and we have West Ham at home now so there will be expectations of us,” he added.
Unfortunately, Sunderland’s season didn’t get much better, despite the increased expectations.
The win at Middlesbrough was more of a brief reprieve than the turning point McCarthy desperately hoped it would be. There would be another long wait for a league victory, with Sunderland continuing to struggle for goals and results as the season wore on.
McCarthy’s impossible task became increasingly apparent and, by March, he was gone.
The irony is that the man who had achieved so much with so little the previous season was now being asked to perform another miracle with a squad that simply wasn’t equipped for the Premier League.
The victory at Middlesbrough didn’t save Sunderland’s season.
But for one afternoon on Teesside, it gave McCarthy and his players something they had been desperately searching for since August.
A win.
