OTD: MAN CITY 3-1 SAFC

On this day in 2014, the League Cup final was played between Sunderland and Manchester City, our second ever final in the competition and our first appearance at Wembley since the First Division play-off final against Charlton Athletic in 1998. Of course, we have been to Wembley a handful of times since then.

The run up to the final was immensely enjoyable and sickeningly tense in equal measure at times and the semi final second leg at Old Trafford summed this up. The way the game lurched from anxiety inducing moments to periods of jubilation so quickly, I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It’s moments like that where you realise why you support Sunderland and even though its trite to say, far from being glory hunters, life as a Sunderland fan is about chasing these fleeting moments like the Bardsley goal at Old Trafford or the penalty shootout victory and sharing them with those likeminded people around you. The scenes after our goal from the 9,000 strong away end are unmatched. I must admit I do watch this match with embarrassing regularity.

After the highs against the red half of Manchester, I think most people were willing to cling to those moments, with victory unlikely against the now superior blue half. City were finally stamping their authority on the English game. When we were about to face them in the final, they had already scored well over 100 goals in all competitions that season. They went on to score 156 goals, smashing the previous goal record, held by United, of 143 goals which had stood since the 50s. Man City broke this record again in the 2017/18 season, netting a total of 169 that time around.

So, we were underdogs. However, looking back at the City squad, some of their players looked unimpressive on paper: Costel Pantilimon, Joleon Lescott and Jack Rodwell as Sunderland players ranged from average, to washed up overweight mercenary, to egregious parasite. Naturally, the latter two of these players didn’t start for City although Pantilimon did.

Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, Samir Nasri, David Silva and Fernandinho were just some of the top, top players City had at their disposal on the day. We had Jack Colback on the left wing. They were blessed with three Argentinian internationals: Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis. We had their far worse compatriots: Ignacio Scocco, Oscar Ustari and Santiago Vergini. Indeed, the match had a slight South American flavour with the Chilean Manuel Pellegrini in the dugout for City and the Uruguayan Gus Poyet in charge of us.

Our fans packed Wembley Way, just as we had packed Central London the previous night, and the atmosphere was incredible on the day. It got a boost very early on, ten minutes in to be precise, when Fabio Borini was put through on goal. I needn’t even describe the goal because no doubt, you would’ve seen a replay of it by now. In the event that you havent however, Borini held off Vincent Kompany after being played through and the Italian slotted the ball beyond Pantilimon from a tight angle. Cue Borini’s trademark salute and a rapturous Sunderland end.

This is one of those aforementioned fleeting moments. When you play against a team like City, you have to defend well. In the first half, we actually coped pretty well. Our back line of Phil Bardsley, John O’Shea, WesBrown and the on-loan Marcos Alonso held firm and Mannone didn’t have too much to do. Half time: underdogs 1, oil rich super team 0.

At half time I, being young and naive, thought we could hold on. Eventually though, virtually every side succumbs to City and, in the second half, even a youthful and optimistic Sunderland fan like myself could sense a goal coming. Soon, it did. Yaya Toure’s strike remains one of the best I’ve ever seen in person. As soon as it went in, you became aware of the gulf in class between the two sides and City pushed on. Quickly after, a Sami Nasri goal saw City pull away and it was unlikely we were going to catch them at this point. We did go for it though, and Steven Fletcher had our best chance of the second half, before the substitute Jesus Navas secured victory for City in injury time.

We have returned to Wembley five times since, the two games in 2019 followed a similar story. We took the lead before losing to Portsmouth in the EFL Trophy and Charlton in the League One play-off final respectively. However, in 2021, we beat Tranmere Rovers in the final of the EFL Trophy, ending a 48-year winless streak at English football's premier ground. We followed this up in 2022, this time with the crowd back after the lockdown restrictions had ended, by beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 in the third tier play-off final. Most recently of course, we came back from behind to beat Sheffield United, at Wembley, 2-1 in May 2025, to finally get back into the Premier League. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we get back there for a proper cup final.