The North East Remains Red And White!

Boos rang around St James’ Park shortly before 2:00pm as we triumphed on Tyneside once again. During the second half, the Lads were magnificent and overall, apart from a sloppy first fifteen minutes, we were by far the better team. With several first-team players out, our defence was patched up and after conceding early, it did feel as though it would be a long afternoon as Newcastle sought to taste derby victory for the first time in sixteen years — a wait that goes on after our brilliant comeback.

Ahead of the match, the vibe from Newcastle was that they cared a great deal about beating us, whilst they pretended not to care. The meltdown at full time showed their true feelings and my God, it was beautiful to watch. Perhaps the height of the hilarity was the way Newcastles fans debated which game they would rather win — Barcelona or Sunderland.

In the end, they lost both games by an aggregate score of 9-3 and while some said they could win both games, we’ve helped to contribute towards a crap week to be a Geordie. Our dear old neighbours have — for the most part — taken the defeat horrendously, with anger shown towards their players and Eddie Howe. This is unusual, as you might’ve thought they’d be used to losing to Sunderland by now?

Maybe not, but beating them never gets old. We went nine games unbeaten against Newcastle, were relegated twice, spent four years in League One, got promoted twice via the playoffs and at the first time of asking, we’ve come back to the Premier League and done the double over them. Whatever you might’ve heard Newcastle fans say about losing to us, they’re hurting.