Late Championship drama provides Sunderland with harsh reality check

We’ve had the utterly-bizarre beach ball goal in 2009, back-to-back relegations sealed here, and many years of consecutive League One football in this very ground, but this latest historic moment doesn’t quite cut the extraordinary – it goes beyond.

Seny Dieng’s 92nd-minute equalising header exceeds perhaps the un-exceedable.

For QPR fans, it was nothing short of a great escape (a ‘get out of jail’ card, in the words of Alex Neil), but for the home faithful, this was a disappointing, frustrating end to an afternoon that was anything but.

Less than 10 minutes earlier, Sunderland were dictating the play and looking composed and clinical on the ball: yes, for all QPR could throw at them, there was little answer.

So, in looking at the remarkable nature of this latest bizarre moment at the Stadium of Light, it perhaps needs to be considered that Sunderland were in a position of ascendency only a little time before.

Yet, this is the Championship, and when teams tire or switch off or lose composure, the opposition will pounce with their quality.

Coventry proved so with the clinical Viktor Gyokeres on the opening day, and Michael Beale’s side continued a similar message with the addition of Tyler Roberts from the bench, adding to their ever-present Illais Chair.

But, for 87 minutes on this particularly hot Saturday afternoon, it was a performance to savour.

Against a strong QPR outlet, Sunderland held their own for large parts of the contest, dominated the play within the midfield areas, and were ever-so clinical in the final third through the city’s new ‘SAS’ (Simms and Stewart).

Again, like the opening day battle with Coventry, this wasn’t a side expecting a low bottom-half finish, this is a QPR team with a new philosophy with Michael Beale at the helm, looking to be pushing for the top half and beyond in the Championship this season.

They demolished Middlesbrough on home turf the weekend previous and were only narrowly forced out of the match by early-season leaders, Blackburn, on the curtain raiser.

So, for Sunderland, this was another very optimistic afternoon filled with many positives, but still, the feeling of the circumstance of this late, late equaliser leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of Sunderland supporters.

Frustration, disappointment, and annoyance will all mull over and fester in the emotions of fans heading into the three days leading up to another tricky test: this time a trip to Bramall Lane to face play-off contenders, Sheffield United.

The sooner this feeling leaves (and it will take a while to eventually depart), the better, but for now, all Sunderland can do is move on.

This was far from the ideal ending to a near-perfect afternoon, but if anything, it told Sunderland fans to continue to expect the unexpected.

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