With Sunderland trailing 2-1 to the league leaders, the clock had ticked beyond the 94th minute when Dan Ballard nodded Trai Hume’s cross towards Brobbey at the Stadium of Light.
Not only did the second-half substitute have to outmuscle Gabriel – something pretty much no one has been able to do this season – but he also had to twist his body and raise his foot to a seemingly unnatural height in order to flick the ball home.
Roefs has played opposite Brobbey in the Dutch Eredivisie, so knows exactly what the former Ajax striker is capable of. Even so, it was quite some effort to score the goal that ended Arsenal’s ten-game winning run and maintained Sunderland’s unbeaten home record this season.
“I know what Brian is like,” said Roefs, who, like Brobbey, moved to Wearside from the Netherlands in the summer. “He showed it in Holland, and he also showed it for the national team. He’s showing his qualities here now too.
“He’s so strong with and without the ball as well. He keeps two or three defenders busy, so he’s a really good player. I still couldn’t really see how he scored it though. But I saw it in the back of the net and then started celebrating.”
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Sunderland led through Dan Ballard’s first-half opener, but were pegged back when Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard scored for Arsenal.
Trailing 2-1, and with the Gunners seemingly on top, it would have been easy for Sunderland’s players to have thrown in the towel. That is not the mentality Regis Le Bris has instilled into his squad, though, so while Arsenal might have been the best team in the country in the opening three months of the season, Roefs and his team-mates always felt they were capable of turning things back around.
“I think we genuinely did believe we could do it because we were really pushing and we were dangerous in the attack,” said Roefs. “I think they felt our pressure, so I absolutely believed in it until the end.”
Brobbey’s goal came in the fourth minute of stoppage time, and even then, Sunderland still needed a dramatic 97th-minute block from Dan Ballard to prevent Mikel Merino from restoring Arsenal’s lead.
The Gunners were uncomfortable for long periods, though, meaning Roefs felt his side definitely deserved to take something from the game.
“What a game,” he said. “I think we absolutely deserved the point, so it’s nice to have got it. I think we did a good job. We were really aggressive. We were aggressive in the low block, and we made it difficult for them. I think we did a great job.”