Soccer Premier League

Sunderland Endured a Truly Remarkable Year In 2014

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By @potts93

Getty Images

Getty Images

Sunderland have done little more than exist within the top flight this season. They’re 14th in the table, with a similar points gap separating them from the top half and the very bottom. From 19 games so far, the Black Cats have recorded 11 draws including six 0-0 stalemates. That’s on course to eclipse the current record of 17 draws in a 38-game season.

On paper, it doesn’t make for particularly exciting reading, but if you look deeper at Sunderland’s calendar year, you’ll see that they’ve had one of the most thrilling seasons in their recent history.

January 2014 saw Gus Poyet lead his men into a Capital One Cup semifinal against Manchester United. Sunderland won the first tie 2-1, but they were a long way from the finish line with an ominous second leg looming. 9,000 noisy away fans flooded into Old Trafford for the game. Jonny Evans put United 1-0 up during the 90 minutes, which was enough to take the game into extra time.

At this point, the away goals rule would have sent United through until Phil Bardsley struck a last-minute goal to send the Sunderland fans delirious. But there was still time for another twist. Before the chaos had even subsided, United peeled away and Javier Hernandez scored, taking the game to penalties. Vito Mannone wrote himself into Sunderland folklore with a string of tremendous saves to send Sunderland to their first cup final in 22 years.

Less than two weeks later, Poyet managed to emulate his predecessor, Paolo Di Canio, by defeating arch-rivals Newcastle 3-0 away from home for the second straight year. March rolled around, and that only meant one thing to Sunderland fans: Wembley. 35,000 fans made the 500-mile round-trip pilgrimage to the home of English football.

They squared up to giants Manchester City and even had the nerve to score first. Fabio Borini slipped past Vincent Kompany and stunned the City fans as their Sunderland counterparts dared to dream about taking home their first trophy in over 40 years.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, as City hit back furiously in the second half with three sublime goals. Regardless of the result, Sunderland fans everywhere were just delighted to have seen their team put up a fight at the top level.

It was around this time that the Black Cats’ season deflated. The cup final had been their fuel, and once that was over, they slid perilously close to danger.

The lowest ebb came in April, as Spurs ran riot with a 5-1 victory at White Hart Lane. That was the day Sunderland looked doomed and a 1-0 defeat to Everton a week later all-but-confirmed relegation.

They were seven-point adrift at the bottom when they visited Manchester City expecting to be destroyed. Then up stepped Connor Wickham.

Remarkably, the young striker scored twice to secure a 2-2 draw. A last stand perhaps, but purely nothing more than a consolation, right?

Even more incredibly, Wickham and Borini both netted against Chelsea to win 2-1 and end Jose Mourinho‘s staggering 77-game unbeaten home record with the Blues. Madness.

Cardiff were up next, and Sunderland romped home with a 4-0 win. Then Seb Larsson punished United as the Black Cats triumphed 1-0 away at Old Trafford. A 2-0 victory over West Brom secured the Wearsiders’ place in the top flight for another year with a game still to play.

It has been described as The Greatest Escape, with only one other side ever surviving after being bottom of the league at Christmas.

This season will have appeared boring to most neutrals and certainly not the most pleasant for fans, but it’s still managed to encapsulate the highs and lows of Sunderland with an 8-0 defeat to Southampton in October, followed by a fourth win over Newcastle in a row just before Christmas.

Poyet’s men might not challenge for a trophy this season and they might not even reach the top half of the table, but they won’t be relegated either. It’s not ideal for the fans who demand success, but the dire lows have ensured the fans enjoy the highs even more greatly. 2014 has been a memory-filled, topsy-turvy and ultimately crazy year for Sunderland AFC.

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