OTD: SAFC 1-0 MCFC

On this day in 2012, Ji Dong-Won wrote himself into Sunderland’s history books with that famous injury-time winner against Manchester City.

It had been a defensive masterclass from Sunderland against the league leaders and reigning champions, and to be honest we’d have been happy to walk away with a hard-fought point. However, when Martin O’Neill urged the Lads forward in the dying seconds there was something in the air and a massive sense of anticipation.

Ji… a clever one-two with Sessegnon… around Joe Hart… and finishing into an empty net. The SoL erupted, we had just witnessed one of the most iconic moments to take place at this ground. Slightly offside? Who cares? This was before the VAR era of ruined celebrations and delayed gratification.

In the buildup to the match, we had a few injury issues including our number one keeper at the time, Kieren Westwood. He had the flu, so Simon Mignolet was back in the side with a face mask protecting his flattened nose suffered against Aston Villa. He wasn’t ready to start, but he did, and he didn’t put a foot wrong in helping earn us this clean sheet. And speaking of injuries, our back four consisted of two midfielders at fullback (Gardner and Colback) whilst our centre-half pairing of Brown and O’Shea was broken up after just 26 minutes when the injured Wes Brown was replaced by Matt Kilgallon.

Despite the disjointed backline - and a youthful attack which saw James McClean make his first start - it was a solid performance. Bendtner and Sessegnon both came close to scoring either side of half time, while City hit the woodwork twice - with one major chance coming on 88 minutes. David Silva’s shot was parried by Mignolet into the path of an onrushing Micah Richards, but the defender seemed to misjudge the bounce of the ball, heading his effort downwards onto the ground and seeing the shot bobble up and hit the crossbar.

Three minutes of added time had been announced and Sunderland managed a rare break forward soon after. We had absorbed most of City’s pressure in the second half but O’Neill was going wild on the touchline, demanding that we pushed forward and went for the win rather than settling down and keeping possession. Some nice interplay between Ji and Sessegnon left the South Korean one-on-one with Hart, and he showed great composure to feign a shot, dodge the keeper and roll the ball into an empty net!

If you (somehow) haven’t heard the commentary for this goal, it’s definitely worth checking out - it’ll put hairs on the back of your neck. Certainly Ji’s greatest moment as a Sunderland player. He wasn’t prolific as a striker but this single moment makes him an unforgettable name in the club’s recent history.