So, we were asked to pen a piece about Darren Bent’s time at SAFC by the Charlton Athletic fanzine, My Only Desire, so thought we may as well share it here too…
WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF BENT’S TIME AT THE CLUB?
Goals, which is exactly what you want from a striker, and the sad nature of his departure. He did his job well, and with a bit of swagger. Of course, everybody remembers the beach ball goal, which, if you watch the replay carefully, actually hit Glen Johnson last. Heaven knows what VAR would make of it. He scored half of our league goals that first season, and we were looking forward with the hope that he could carry on in that form, and if he had, he’d have overtaken Phillips in our goalscorers list and become an all-time Sunderland great, in fact, he’s still fifth in our all-time list of scorers based on goals per game, one place above Phillips.