On this day in 2007, Sunderland beat Burnley 3-2 at the SoL. A 3-2 scoreline sounds pretty interesting in any circumstances, but this one was more than a bit special for several reasons...
In Roy Keane’s first season in management, he’d arrived on Wearside the previous September and transformed our fortunes. After losing our first four games under Niall Quinn (who's he?), Keano’s very presence at the SoL brought us a win against West Brom, and we set off on a wonderful season of late wins and dramatic goals. The reverse fixture, in December, had seen us fall behind to two Kyle Lafferty goals (who's he?) before Grant Leadbitter pulled one back with ten to go, then David Connolly struck deep into added time to grab us a vital point. A taste of things to come? Most definitely.
With two games to go, we were sitting top of the table and simply desperate to seal things when Burnley came to town. No Lafferty for them this time, but they did have Steve Caldwell (did OK for us) and Andy Gray (couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a handful of gravel) in their line-up. Things got off to a decent start when Daryl Murphy put our first into the South Stand (AKA Roker End) net after only quarter of an hour, and looked to get even better five minutes later when Connolly was upended in the box – but his spot-kick was saved. Gray then showed him how things are done from the spot after Wade Elliot was fouled, although it has to be said that the ref was giving his whistle a fair old work-out. Five minutes into the second half Elliot put the visitors ahead, much to the dismay of the 44,448 crowd, but such was the nature of the game that it simply increased the noise levels. Five minutes later and urged on by the crowd, Carlos Edwards galloped into the box and was tripped, allowing Connolly the chance to make amends for his earlier effort – which he did.
From there it was end to end stuff as we sought the win that would get us closer to automatic promotion and Burnley sought the win that would - well, keep them in mid-table obscurity. With ten to go, we broke forward and Edwards pointed to where he wanted the ball before lashing it into the North Stand net. One of the SoL’s best goals, evoking memories of Vic Halom’s effort at Roker against Man City 33 years earlier. What a buck snorter! A goal worthy of winning any game, and one that endorsed Quinny’s claim that the £1.5 million we spent on him in the January would be the best £1.5 million we’d ever spend. He also had a shot saved in added time, as well as helping set up Stern John to put an effort just wide. We held on to win the game and seal promotion, and celebrations at the final whistle were a sight to behold. One game to go, away at Luton, and we all know what a party that turned out to be.
For the record, it was Ward, Simpson, Collins, Nosworthy, Evans (snr), Whitehead, Miller (Leadbitter), Murphy, Connolly (John), Stokes (Hysen), and Edwards.
Such was the legendary status that the goal took on that in 2019 fans responded to a MIND initiative on World Mental Health Day by voting it our Goal Worth Talking About, thus ensuring its immortality in the form of a Frank Styles mural on the side of the ALS building. If ever there was an example of a simple moment in football having a positive effect on your life, this goal was it.
