On this day in 2008, Sunderland beat the mags by two goals to one. This was the first home Sunderland Derby win of the millennium and featured a now legendary free kick from Kieran Richardson to win the match, an absolute rocket.
This game was an important statement for The Lads as up until then we hadn’t won a home game against our neighbours for 28 years and hadn’t won a Derby since 2000 where we won by the same scoreline away to St James’ Park.
Some of the important players that started that game for Sunderland were Dijbril Cisse,Kieran Richardson and the captain Dean Whitehead while the opposition had players like Fabricio Collocini, Shola Ameobi and their captain Nicky Butt.
Sunderland started off brightly with Cisse opening up the scoring from a cross into the box delivered in by teammate Malbranque for a tap in into the centre of the goal.And as he sent the Stadium Of Light into delirium he signed off the finish with his infamous acrobatic celebration, his blonde beard shimmering as bright as could be as he jumped around in front of the mackem faithful.
The lead didn’t last for very long, ten minutes to be exact. Newcastle were awarded a free kick from the right side of Fulop’s box as Shola Ameobi was brought down by Chimbonda. They then scored from said free-kick, Shola with a header to bring the game back level.
Roy Keane and the Newcastle Interim manager, Joe Kinnear, would both say in their team talks that they were in with a shout of winning but I’m sure that neither of them could have predicted the goal that came next.
As the second half had begun both sides had chances with Newcastle having the more clear cut chance in particular as Ameobi skied his chance when he was through on goal and it would turn out costly for Newcastle.
El Hadji Diouf was through on goal moments later as he received the ball through some smart, tight passing from Kenwyne Jones but he was brought down quite literally an inch outside the box by Nicky Butt who was shown a yellow card for the foul. Kieran Richardson stood over the ball, with the wall being so close to the goal it would've been hard for him to get it up and over so he decided to just absolutely smash it into the far corner sending the Stadium of Light into bedlam.
Everyone went ballistic for what is in my opinion contender for one of the best goals scored in the Tyne-Wear Derby. One fan, after receiving Richardson’s blown kisses, had invaded the pitch and started praying at Kieran Richardsons feet; it was truly a sight to see.
2-1 was how the match ended and it was a legendary fixture between the two sides that not alot of Sunderland supporters are in a rush to forget…
SUNDERLAND STARTING XI (Formation 4-4-2)
MARTON FULOP 32
PASCAL CHIMBONDA 21
ANTON FERDINAND 25
DANNY COLLINS 15
GEORGE MCCARTNEY 3
STEED MALBRANQUE 8
DEAN WHITEHEAD 6
DWIGHT YORKE 19
KIERAN RICHARDSON 10
DIJBRIL CISSE 9
EL HADJI DIOUF 11
SUBS: K.JONES,A.REID,T.TAINO,P.BEARDSLEY,N.COLGAN.
G.LEADBITTER,M.CHOPRA
NEWCASTLE STARTING XI (Formation 4-4-2)
SHAY GIVEN 1
HABIB BEYE 21
SHAWN TAYLOR 27
FABRICIO COLLOCINNI 2
SEBASTIAN BASSONG 12
GEREMI NJITAP 20
DANNY GUTHRIE 8
NICKY BUTT 22
DAMIEN DUFF 11
SHOLA AMEOBI 23
OBAFEMI MARTINS 9
SUBS:C.CACAPA,J.BARTON,S.HARPER,C.N’ZOGBIA,J.GUTIERREZ,
J.ENRIQUE,X.JIMENEZ
