Sunderland beat Newcastle United 2-1 at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
Sunderland enjoyed a memorable afternoon at St. James’ Park on Sunday, fighting back from a goal down to seal a late, famous 2-1 victory against Newcastle United.
Regis Le Bris’ men extended their unbeaten streak to 11 Premier League encounters against their local rivals, with Chemsdine Talbi cancelling out an early Anthony Gordon opener on Tyneside before Brian Brobbey decided the second Tyne-Wear Derby of the campaign in his side’s favour.
In a typically cacophonous atmosphere, the home team team went agonisingly close within minutes - a devilish Lewis Hall cross met well by Anthony Elanga, who could only power his effort just over the crossbar. When Gordon then charged down an attempted Melker Ellborg clearance moments later, the Geordie faithful smelled blood.
They were to get their breakthrough in the 10th minute. A botched Luke O’Nien clearance from an innocuous goal kick fell gift-wrapped at the feet of Nick Woltemade on the edge of Sunderland’s box. The big German fed a simple ball into Gordon, who calmly slotted home.
From there, the Black Cats grappled to get back into a tumultuous contest, and would have conjured up a spectacular equaliser courtesy of a curling Talbi effort, but for a flying Aaron Ramsdale stop. Still Newcastle threatened to punish their visitors in their nervier moments, however, and would create the next two gilded openings of the match - Anthony Elanga firing emphatically into Mellborg’s side-netting from inside the box before Sven Botman arrowed a head onto the outside of the post just before half-time.
After the interval, Sunderland came out showing a renewed sense of intent, pinning back their hosts and having the first notable opportunity of the half when Chris Rigg stung Ramsdale’s palms at his near post. From the resulting corner, Sunderland would find their equaliser, Talbi capitalising on chaos in the Toon penalty area to bury from close range.
Cue a period of pendulous momentum as both teams looked to assert control; first Noah Sadiki tested Ramsdale again, then Harvey Barnes saw a deflected volley squirm narrowly beyond the upright. Newcastle even looked to have re-established their lead with a quarter of an hour remaining, only for VAR to chalk off Malik Thiaw’s bundled effort. St. James’ Park erupted, the joy was short-lived.
As the clock ticked past the 80 minute mark, Le Bris finally turned to his bench - the sorely missed Enzo Le Fée replacing Habib Diarra in the middle of the park. His first contribution was nearly a costly one, misplacing a pass that sparked a Newcastle counter which almost ended in Gordon notching a second.
His next was much, much better. Racing onto a Sadiki through ball, the Frenchman found himself on the dead ball line, cutting a pass back to Brobbey who, through sheer force of will and a healthy dose of his signature raw physicality, found a way of squeezing the ball over the line from point blank range. Up in the gods, the travelling Mackems descended into absolute bedlam. When the final whistle sounded shortly after, they went even wilder still.
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