Gav says…
This is probably going to be a really weird choice, but I think I’ll go with the 3-2 loss to Newcastle at St James’ Park in the 2005/2006 season.
I know, you’re probably thinking, “Well, that’s a bit sadomasochistic”, but I think enough time has passed since then given it was twenty years ago, and I’m still basking in the glow of our latest derby victory, so I reckon I can pull up my big boy pants and take it.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched this game back, and it was only in the build up to the latest
derby — when the club posted a compilation video of goals against that lot at their place, which included the ones from this game — that I actually saw the Sunderland goals, since I was actually in the ground that day.
It was a season to forget but we actually gave a really good account of ourselves, and the two thunderbastards we scored courtesy of Liam Lawrence and Stephen Elliott deserve to be showcased as they were, in their own right, outstanding finishes.
I can’t really remember much about how it all played out though and I’m curious to remind myself of how we chucked it away with Emre’s winning free kick, so I’ll probably chuck it on at some point.
It was a real feature of our play that season that whilst we didn’t win very many games, most of the losses were close. We were never really battered and whilst the effort was most certainly there, we just didn’t have the quality.
John Wilson says…
One answer straight away: December 1999, Sunderland 4 Chelsea 1, and two goals apiece for Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips.
It was one of the most surreal games I’ve ever watched — sublime goals and a sublime team performance. We’d been hammered by them at Stamford Bridge at the start of the season, so this was beautiful payback.
I remember going to the loo at half time and saying to the guy beside me (in the style of The Fast Show) “So, we went 4-0 up at half time to Chelsea, which was nice.” I’ve also got a mug with the game stats on, and it’s my go-to favourite league game at the Stadium of Light.
After that, I’d like to dip in and watch certain players. How good were they, and could they do a job in our current team?
Just looking at some early games would be interesting to see if the game has moved on or digressed. Would Allan Johnston and Nicky Summerbee be able to cut the mustard today? I suspect they could. How good were Steed Malbranque and Paul Bracewell? So other than actual matches, it would interesting interesting to do a player watch.
Malc Dugdale says…
I have to say the 3-2 win at home to Chelsea in May 2016 — just about ten years ago — is something I really want to rewatch via this service with my lad, Dean, and for several reasons.
Firstly, this was one of the first games I’d took my then-fourteen-year-old lad to, back when Sunderland were in the top flight (although regularly struggling to stay there), and were playing what was seen at the time as a “big side”.
The game was — without a shadow of a doubt — one of the key moments which branded my boy as a Mackem for life.
We’d lived in New Zealand from when he was seven right up to when he was twelve or thirteen, and as a decent young rugby player over there, I was quite surprised he had also become increasingly interested in Sunderland, even from that distance. But he hadn’t experienced big games live, for obvious reasons.
In the first game we shared as Dad and son, he tasted all the lows and the highs we all know and love so well, and if he wasn’t a committed Sunderland fan walking into the Stadium of Light that day, he was a massively proud proxy Wearsider walking out — with a very proud Dad by his side.
The game itself was a rollercoaster. The advantage was clearly with the visitors when they took an early lead through the amazing Diego Costa, but we quickly fought back with a cracking volley from Wahbi Khazri.
We then went behind again, much to the dismay of the crowd, but with two goals in three minutes of the second half, we went from despair to delirium, with limbs everywhere and the Chelsea skipper John Terry seeing red in the closing moments, such was the level of rattle we had delivered. It was immense.
To put a cherry on top, the result took us out of the bottom three, and left the Mags in there. It didn’t get much better than that, and that game reminds me a lot of the spirit of the team right now to be honest.
“Til The End” was absolutely the theme in that game too. Jermain Defoe scored; Fabio Borini benefitted from a deflection, the place was absolutely rocking at the come back nature of the win and seeds of today were there to be seen — it just failed to look after them for much longer afterwards.
It felt like Wembley against Sheffield United, the Coventry home playoff and the away end against the Geordies the other week. It’s what we’re all about, and always have been.
The Mags went down that season; we went to Everton and won, then drew at Watford and sealed our survival.
What a time.
While that game also sealed the miserable fate of both my son and I (and thousands of others) for the eight or so years that followed and all the challenges that came with that, we now have a bond that nobody can break over our club. I’ve also made dozens of new mates through Roker Report, a new football family I’m looking forward to catching up with at the Fans’ Weekend.
That’s all thanks to this game, the journey we’ve shared since, and continue to do so.
Don’t get me wrong: he could be disinterested in footy altogether and I’d still love my boy unconditionally, but the connection we have over this club is incredible. I’ll be forever grateful to that team and our club for giving that to me that day, and that’s one of the reasons I really am Sunderland ‘til I die. And I get a feeling my boy is too.
Love you Deano, mate!
