Best and biggest Sunderland moments of a brilliant 2022

Where do we even start with this? For Sunderland fans, 2022 was certainly a memorable year.

Author:
Michael Graham
Publish date:
Dec 31, 2022 8:51 AM EST

Supporting Sunderland is never dull, but even by the usual standards 2022 was a remarkable year for the club.

It was a year that started with unimaginable lows and finished with genuine excitement, and there was a Wembley peak right in the middle.

So, as we prepare to leave the year behind, let’s take a look at some of the best Sunderland moments of 2022.

Ross Stewart Wembley

This one was the moment we had been waiting four years for. For older supporters, it was a moment decades in the making. Not only was it the moment we knew the League One exile was over, but it was when we also knew all those years of Wembley hurt were over too.

In many ways it is a shame that Elliot Embleton’s goal that day gets lost in euphoria a little, but the second goal, Stewart’s goal, was the moment.

It was also one of those goals that naturally just looked like it was all happening in slow motion anyway, which just added to its majesty.

Bolton turning point

It feels weird to sit here and write fondly about arguably the most humiliating defeat in Sunderland’s history.

For a club like Sunderland, being in League One in the first place was an embarrassment. Being stuck there for four years was just about unbearable. Being thrashed 6-0 at that level after three and a half years was definitely the low point.

And yet, it was also arguably the most important result I can remember as a Sunderland fan.

It was the watershed moment that saw Lee Johnson sacked, Alex Neil arrive (eventually), and started all the great stuff that was to come.

Roberts stuns Hillsborough

The League One play-off semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday was billed as a battle between two clubs who did not belong at that level and it certainly proved a colossal affair.

Sunderland went to Hillsborough with a narrow 1-0 lead from the first leg, and when Lee Gregory levelled the tie it felt like the Owls had all the momentum and more play-off heartbreak was inevitable.

Patrick Roberts was having none of it, though, and his goal deep into injury time produced some of the best scenes of a Sunderland end we have ever witnessed.

Stadium of Light rocking again

It feels wrong to just skip over that first leg against Sheffield Wednesday, because it felt like a very important night for Sunderland.

It was the day we saw the Stadium of Light back to all its former glories in terms of atmosphere and genuine big-game expectation. It was also a night when Sunderland responded to it.

That felt like it had not happened for a long time. It felt like the bigger the crowd, the more Sunderland crumbled. That night, though, the club felt connected again in a very positive way.

Nathan Broadhead late-show

It’s a genuine shame that Nathan Broadhead is not still at Sunderland, because there is a strong case to be made that we would not be in the Championship without him.

During the League One run-in it seemed like absolutely no one was dropping points. Sunderland won eight and drew five of their last 13 games, and even then a play-off spot was only secured on the final day.

Broadhead was struggling with a hamstring injury for much of that run-in, but his injury time winner against Gillingham in April felt absolutely huge.

Just two weeks later he repeated the trick against Shrewsbury too.

Gooch Wembley tears

One of the best things about following Sunderland in 2022 was that it felt there was a genuine connection back between players and fans.

No moment encapsulated that more than Lynden Gooch, someone who is ‘Sunderland through and through,’ stood on the side of the Wembley pitch giving an interview while crying following the play-off final.

It wasn’t spectacular or eye-catching, but it was an incredibly touching moment that touched everyone on a very human level. It won’t ever be forgotten.

Luke O’Nien is all of us

Speaking of players encapsulating the feelings of fans, how could we not mention Luke O’Nien’s Wembley roar?

Here is a player who was born in Hemel Hempstead yet has somehow managed to become Mr Sunderland in a way we haven’t seen since Hastings-born Kevin Ball.

O’Nien was the only player on the pitch at Wembley who also played in the 2019 play-off final heartbreak against Charlton (Lynden Gooch was an unused substitute that day). He saw the whole League One chapter, like us, and, like us, all that frustration was released with a roar at Wembley.

For us it was when Ross Stewart’s goal went in. For Luke O’Nien it was following a ferocious tackle in the middle of the pitch in the dying moments of the game. I still struggle to recall it now without feeling emotional about it.

Reading wondergoal

It is one thing being back in the Championship and feeling like the club is at least back on the rise again. It’s quite another doing it with such style.

There have been a loads of superb goals so far this season – Amad at Birmingham, Amad at Wigan, Alex Pritchard at Huddersfield, Jack Clarke against Rotherham, Gooch at Sheffield United to name just a few.

The one Clarke scored at Reading was stunning though in the sense that I don’t think any of us had really seen Sunderland score a goal like it before. It was, by any standard, absolutely brilliant football.

Simms Blackburn winner

It’s a bit bittersweet now given Simms given his recall by Everton, but his injury-time winner against Blackburn felt significant.

It was a game against a team third in the league and Sunderland deserved to win it. It didn’t look like we would, though.

At the same time, there was also a sense of something building, but it was just a feeling. Simms late winner, though, was one of those transformative moments that just might have turned a feeling into something much more tangible.