You could feel something crackling through the air long before the first notes of the Last Post rang out pre-match. Something, almost inevitably, was brewing.
And it came to pass: once again in the dying embers of the game, the Stadium of Light was sent into a higher plane. In one swift tangle of blue, red, and white limbs, the home crowd went from being happy in defeat to delirious with a point.
But it was so much more than that.
When it looked like the home side would go down to a defeat by the odd
goal, the general consensus felt like satisfaction. The result may have eluded them, but the performance was mature, accomplished, and not out of place in the top flight.
Those reviews were swiftly rewritten: this team instead decided to ram their presence in the Premier League down the throats of all concerned.
And then what? 45,000 people riding their own personal bucking bronco. Arms went one way, legs went the other. Bodies lurching forward in order to embrace those in front, screaming unintelligible noise which will never have a place in the Collins English Dictionary.
Row 31 became row 28. Seat 430 became seat 435. There was a rearranging of the layout at the Stadium of Light as, not for the first time, this remarkable side took you to a place you didn’t expect to be in more ways than one.
Spare a thought for the stadium maintenance team, who will have to work overtime to check the mechanisms on every single chair after Brian Brobbey’s late, scarcely believable leveller. Arsenal don’t concede two goals; they don’t concede one. Nor do they allow shots on target. This time, it was different.
Because Brobbey provided a moment that hadn’t been factored into the equation by those in North London — however, Regis Le Bris and his staff, who continue to achieve remarkable things with such quiet surety, knew exactly what the plan was.
This wasn’t just an emotional release. This was a psychological reappraisal of a fanbase; hope has quickly turned to belief and now hardened into steel.
The end point of this campaign isn’t the reason why we are all here. The moments such as this are what so many at the club have strived for and are just as important. To play as equals against one of the most accomplished sides in the world and to hold their own. It was special – and it wasn’t just in our corner of north-east England where people were sitting up and taking notice.
Make no mistake – it won’t always be like this. These are golden days and nights for this club. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that the core moments of unbridled joy in the last six months could have been spread across a decade or more, and no one would have complained; it would have been more than enough. A litany of moments that will never be removed from Sunderland AFC’s roll call. If you are young and reading this – appreciate these times.
And yet progression continues. To where? No one knows. The cast of series one in the Championship have been joined by a new stellar line-up for series two in the Premier League.
The parameters of what might be possible with this side are still being established. Back in May, a top-half finish was viewed as pure fantasy, yet it is fast becoming realistic.
The difference is that in August, many were happy to speculate on what they felt unrealistic. Does anyone dare say what the pure fantasy is in November? As by February, it might too be realistic.
Whatever you do – please don’t say it. Just enjoy it.
