On this day in 2016, Sunderland ‘played in the dark’ as they beat Hull 3-0. The lights went out at the SoL, Jermain Defoe scored his 150th Premier League goal and we actually won a game under David Moyes!
We went into this game on a high, having defeated Bournemouth the previous week (with 10 men, after Pienaar was sent off).
We started the game well, and after half an hour Defoe latched onto Duncan Watmore’s flick-on. He evaded Ahmed Elmohamady with ease, and slotted a cool finish into the bottom corner.
It was a landmark goal for Defoe, who had now scored 150 Premier League goals - the only players to match his record were Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney, Andy Cole, Frank Lampard, Thierry Henry, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen.
We were 1-0 up when the lights suddenly went out after 49 minutes, and play was stopped. Sunderland fans shone their torches on their phones, and started singing ‘we’ll play in the dark’. What started as an entertaining moment in the game quickly grew tiresome, as the game was stopped for 10 whole minutes. The lights slowly came back on, although there was clearly a technical problem as the second half was played in an eerie half-light.
But despite Defoe’s first-half heroics, it was Victor Anichebe's performance which grabbed headlines. The big striker looked to be the perfect strike partner for Defoe, scoring twice in the second half to seal the win and give us a bit of hope.
His first goal came after some great play by Patrick Van Aanholt, and Anichebe found the net with a powerful left-footed effort. Some inspired goalkeeping from Jordan Pickford kept the Tigers at bay, before Big Vic smashed a shot past the keeper late on to seal the win.
It was the Nigerian’s first brace since 2006, when he put two past the Mags while playing for Moyes’ Everton.
After the game Moyes said: "Victor Anichebe was immense, probably even better than he was [against Bournemouth last time out] and he has this capability of doing it. He needs to be loved and I think the supporters are helping him because he wants that. The supporters are enjoying him and I hope they keep backing him. He is a handful and really powerful - if he adds goals to it he's a terrific player."
On the floodlights failing in the second half, Moyes added: "When the lights go out, you never know what the reason is. We maybe spent all our money and not on the electricity bill. The worry was they wouldn't get it back on, but thankfully they did and we got through it."
