When trying to sum a game of this nature up — an affair during which an injury-wracked Sunderland performed with the kind of purpose, attacking intent and wholehearted approach that harked back to our displays in gritty encounters during AFCON — it’s tempting to use words such as “pride”, “passion” and “togetherness” as the Lads picked up another solid point on the road.
Make no mistake: all of those terms do apply, but given that the shadow of Jarred Gillett hung over this game from minute one until
he finally blew the full time whistle long past the allotted eight-minute mark, I’m also going to deploy the heavy artillery in the shape of “disgraceful”, “shambolic” and “embarrassing”.
I accept that I’m breaking a longstanding personal rule here (“Don’t blame the referee in an attempt to mask your own shortcomings”) but by any reasonable standard, you can’t overlook the fact that had it not been for the incompetence of this performative whistler, there’s an excellent chance that Régis Le Bris and the Lads would’ve been celebrating a thoroughly deserved victory on the long journey back to the North East.
If the ludicrous denial of a Sunderland penalty following a shove on Enzo Le Fée didn’t get your blood boiling, a reckless, studs-down-the-ankle challenge from Tyler Adams on Granit Xhaka — surely a red card yet only deemed worthy of a yellow — was another major talking point and had either of these major calls gone our way, it’s not a stretch to say that we would’ve stood an excellent chance of winning what was at times a fractious and frenetic affair.
In between those two flashpoints came all manner of howlers and bizarre calls from a referee who’s barely fit to officiate at Russell Foster level, but let nothing detract from the promise showed by Sunderland and the fact that as a response to last Sunday’s defeat, this was an excellent afternoon’s work and arguably a blueprint for how we should’ve strived to approach away games since we turned over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in October.
The selection of Eliezer Mayenda gave the attack some fresh impetus, with the Spaniard looking lively all afternoon and showing good alertness to prod the ball home after Habib Diarra’s shot had been parried.
In Brian Brobbey’s absence, the chance has presented itself to Mayenda after a somewhat stop-start maiden top flight campaign, and it’s up to the “Big Man” to show that — just as he did last season — he can step up and contribute with goals and dynamic performances.
Elsewhere, Enzo Le Fée was his usual sublime self, full of neat touches and the work rate to match, and the midfield trio that we’ve been clamouring to witness play together — Xhaka, Diarra and Noah Sadiki — were solid and gave us a foundation from which a victory could’ve been attained.
Bournemouth were game and Evanilson’s equaliser was probably merited on the balance of play (even if there as a hint of handball) but given the Vitality Stadium’s reputation and our own list of absentees, it’s hard to feel too downcast about an outcome that puts us one step closer to survival — still the primary aim for 2025/2026.
Sadly, this game will be remembered more for its litany of officiating blunders than for the football itself, and I do think the question needs to be asked: is this really sustainable?
There’s little doubt in my mind that we’ve bottomed out in terms of both the quality and consistency of refereeing displays in this country, with VAR now muddying the waters and not acting as the failsafe mechanism that it was designed to be. The lack of true accountability and barrage of vague explanations for mistakes is infuriating and the longer this goes on, the worse it’s surely going to get.
Gillett’s performative nonsense — the kind of “me, me, me” approach that makes the likes of egotists like Graham Poll look like wallflowers — might’ve thrown us off our game and led to defeat, but we were able to stand firm, retain a semblance of composure and take a point from a game during which we competed strongly and didn’t look like a side low on confidence.
We’ll certainly be able to take that into what’s set to be a fiery clash with Leeds United at Elland Road on Tuesday night, and if we can build on this result, deal with a hostile and highly-charged home crowd and hopefully enjoy the benefits of a fairer and more consistent refereeing display, perhaps a rare away victory could be within reach.
Premier League
Saturday 28 February 2026
Vitality Stadium
Attendance: 11,240
Bournemouth: 1 (Evanilson 63’)
Sunderland: 1 (Mayenda 18’)
Bournemouth: Petrovic, Jiménez, Hill; Sinesi, Truffert, Adams (Christie 62’); Scott, Rayan, Brooks (Evanilson 46’; Tóth 85’); Tavernier (Adli 81’), Kroupi (Ünal 81’)
Subs Not Used: Diakité, Mandas, Milosavljević, Smith
Sunderland: Roefs, Geertruida, Ballard; Alderete, Hume, Xhaka (Angulo 76’); Sadiki, Diarra, Le Fée; Talbi (Traoré 69’), Mayenda (Isidor 96’)
Subs Not Used: Ellborg, O’Nien, H.Jones, J.Jones, Rigg, Aleksić
