OTD: 2-0 V WBA (2014)
- BY THOMAS THORNTON
- May 7
- 2 min read
On this day in 2014, Gus Poyet’s Great Escape concluded with a comprehensive 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
Having spent so much time in the relegation zone that Gus admitted it would take a ‘miracle’ to keep us up, Sunderland went on an unbelievable run which included a 2-2 draw at the Etihad (where we should have won) followed by three consecutive victories against Chelsea (away, 1-2), Cardiff (home, 4-0) and Manchester United (away, 0-1). 10 points from those four games took us to Wednesday night on May 7, where we knew three points would mathematically confirm our safety.
Jack Colback settled the nerves early on with a tidy finish on 13 minutes, but we knew that we wouldn’t be able to hold onto 1-0 for the whole game - we are Sunderland, after all! So, the SoL erupted into joyous relief when Fabio Borini latched onto Seb Larsson’s deft chip to volley the second goal in on the half-hour mark.
West Brom did threaten to come back into the game in the second half, and we were wary of former Lad Stephane Sessegnon, with Jozy Altidore also missing a sitter from six yards which summed up the American’s season. But we held onto the clean sheet to see out a 2-0 victory in cruise control. A special mention must go to Lee Cattermole who bossed the midfield with tackles, interceptions and passes. If he played for any other club that season, he’d have been selected for England.
Four wins in a row, 13 points from the last 15, safe with one game to spare. The greatest of great escapes! At the time there had only been one other team to survive relegation having been bottom at Christmas and that was, ironically, West Brom.
After the match Poyet spoke about how this was his proudest career achievement, while also appearing determined to make sure the club didn’t fall into the same position the following season. Unfortunately both goalscorers from this game would not return for pre-season (Colback joined the dirty Mags on a free and we spent the summer pursuing Borini only for him to turn us down), Connor Wickham couldn’t replicate that incredible form he found, and Gus had us in the same cycle the following year. The Uruguayan was sacked in March, with us 17th in the table.
Overall, May 7th 2014 was a great day which capped off our memorable survival. Miracles do happen, Gus!
