OTD: LYNDEN GOOCH BORN

Born on this day in 1995, in Santa Cruz, California, is ex-Sunderland player and current Huddersfield Town man Lynden Gooch. Goochy made 247 appearances during his time on Wearside, scoring 25 goals.

From an early age, it was clear Gooch had a lot of potential – and his talent was clear. Whilst still at school, Lynden joined the U.S. Soccer Development Academy at the Santa Cruz County Breakers Academy, providing him with the much needed push required at such a young and impressionable age.

Gooch's talent attracted the attention of several European scouts, earning him a trial and eventual spot with Sunderland's youth academy, the place where his career started, and ultimately blossomed.

From the age of 10, Gooch travelled to Sunderland regularly from the USA during school holidays for training before finally moving to England and subsequently joining full-time at the age of 16, after signing a two-year scholarship.

Before being loaned to Doncaster Rovers, the winger made his professional debut for Sunderland, on August 26th 2015. This was in a League Cup second round match against Exeter City. Gooch stepped onto the pitch as a substitute in the 58th minute, walking off at full time after a successful 6-3 win.

He made his Premier League debut, starting away against Manchester City in Sunderland's first match of the 2016/17 season which unsurprisingly ended in a 2–1 defeat. But despite showing promising signs, Moyes seemingly refused to trust youth and instead preferred Adnan Januzaj and Fabio Borini out wide.

Gooch scored his momentous first goal for the Black Cats on August 22nd 2017 in a 2-1 League Cup win at Carlisle. He said post–match that he had “dreamt of the moment since the age of 10”, a true reminder of the childhood dedication he showed the club he loved most.

Then one month later, Gooch recorded his first league goal, a penalty that he won himself to equalize in a 2–1 home loss to Cardiff City in the Championship. Sunderland suffered a second consecutive relegation that season, leaving us hopeful for a swift promotion back to the Championship and beyond.

In our first game in League One, Gooch headed an added-time winner in a 2–1 home victory over Charlton Athletic – this match being the Black Cats' first opening win for eleven years - in what would have been the last season of his contract. At the time the win seemed to represent a new Sunderland team, who would fight until the last minute and play exciting, attacking football under Jack Ross.

One of Lynden's most notable career moments was scoring the only goal against Tranmere Rovers in the Papa John's Trophy final in 2021. While looking back now it was merely an unnecessary distraction to our promotion campaign, it did provide us with a much needed boost during lockdown though.

When we finally won promotion to the Championship, many questioned Gooch's ability to compete at a higher level - particularly in his new position as a right back. But he clearly put in the hard yards during pre-season and instantly looked like a solid Championship-quality fullback. Despite himself suffering a couple of injuries, he came back to play an important role in a last minute push into the play-off spots in the 2022/23 season. He notably assisted our equalizer away to West Brom with a wonderful cross to Dennis Cirkin and captained the side for the last three regular league fixtures and in both legs of the play-off semi final.

He made two more appearances for the club in the 2023/24 campaign, before moving to Stoke City on a two-year deal under former Sunderland boss Alex Neil. Gooch played 53 times for the Potters and scored twice over the next two years before letting his contract expiry and moving to his current club, Huddersfield Town, in League One.