Boos rang around St James’ Park shortly before 2:00pm as we triumphed on Tyneside once again.
During the second half, the Lads were magnificent and overall, apart from a sloppy first fifteen minutes, we were by far the better team.
With several first-team players out, our defence was patched up and after conceding early, it did feel as though it would be a long afternoon as Newcastle sought to taste derby victory for the first time in sixteen years — a wait that goes on after our brilliant comeback.
Ahead of the match, the vibe from Newcastle was that they cared a great deal about beating us, whilst they pretended not to care. The meltdown at full time showed their true feelings and my God, it was beautiful to watch.
Perhaps the height of the hilarity was the way Newcastles fans debated which game they would rather win — Barcelona or Sunderland. In the end, they lost both games by an aggregate score of 9-3 and while some said they could win both games, we’ve helped to contribute towards a crap week to be a Geordie.
Our dear old neighbours have — for the most part — taken the defeat horrendously, with anger shown towards their players and Eddie Howe. This is unusual, as you might’ve thought they’d be used to losing to Sunderland by now? Maybe not, but beating them never gets old.
We went nine games unbeaten against Newcastle, were relegated twice, spent four years in League One, got promoted twice via the playoffs and at the first time of asking, we’ve come back to the Premier League and done the double over them.
Whatever you might’ve heard Newcastle fans say about losing to us, they’re hurting. We had years of jibes about being light years behind them, and they were so confident of beating us comfortably and seeing us go straight back down.
Neither of those things have happened, and with some key absentees, we rocked up in their backyard, gave them a head start and then snatched all three points in the last minute, going back above them in the table in the process.
You’ll remember seeing the joy as they celebrated the Saudi takeover back in 2021 and how they proudly said they “had their club back”. In five years, they’ve spent a hell of a lot of money and sold their soul and identity, yet despite all of this, they’re once again behind ‘little old Sunderland’ in the league.
They still couldn’t manage a derby win, and we must milk it, because they gave us shit all through some of our worst years.
Their arrogance and delusion have been exposed to the world; even after the game, with Anthony Gordon claiming that we “aren’t that good”. If we aren’t good, God knows what that means for whatever’s going on up on Tyneside.
This season has been wonderful, and we’ve gone through the rough patches we all know would come.
Despite this, and ahead of a three-week break before our next game, we’re three points off a European place and only five points off the top six. We’ll have a few of the injured lads back for the visit of Tottenham, and off the back of a derby win, the run-in could be brilliant for a group of players that’ve already given us so much to celebrate.
