On this day in 2014, a 4-0 hammering of Cardiff City at the SoL aided Gus Poyet’s great escape and sent the Bluebirds bottom of the league.
Of course, that 2013/14 season started so poorly yet became so memorable due to the League Cup run and the eventual ‘miracle’ that kept us up. Connor Wickham famously came into the form of his life for one month, which dragged us out of the relegation zone.
After that famous brace against Man City and scoring in our iconic win at Stamford Bridge, Wickham was the star as we put four past fellow strugglers Cardiff. It was a huge three points and another thoroughly convincing performance where we never really looked like losing.
We took the lead in the first half as our in-form striker expertly guided his header into the far corner. Then just before half time, the Bluebirds’ misery doubled when Wickham broke free and was tugged down by Juan Cala, leading to a penalty and red card. As he did so often that season, Fabio Borini coolly dispatched his spot kick to make it 2-0.
We managed to coast through the half and made things look easy when substitute Emanuele Giaccherini finished a good move off on 76. Wickham managed to nod in another one ten minutes later to cap off the perfect day for Sunderland, who moved out of the bottom three.
The prospect of escaping relegation had seemed pretty impossible for months, but our first home win since late January made it feel real. Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side dropped to 20th. They were ultimately relegated, we stayed up, and prolonged our Premier League status for another year at least.
When Sunderland recalled Wickham from his loan at Leeds, Poyet said: “It's about searching for a solution and it could be Connor Wickham. I would like Connor to look at this as though we have just signed him for the first time. He's a new player, nobody knows him, and he's a young English striker with incredible powers. He's coming to help us get away from relegation. If he has that impact, that will be fantastic. It will be the 'bang' we need.”
And the impact Wickham had on that amazing run cannot be understated. March 2014: five goals in three games.
