Sunderland's biggest wins from the last five seasons after Cheltenham Town annihilation

Sunderland stunned fans last night as they beat League One newcomers Cheltenham Town 5-0 – a scoreline that could have easily been much higher.

Right from the get go the visitors couldn’t handle the Black Cats’ pace and intensity and while a handful of chances were not taken, Bailey Wright, Ross Stewart, Luke O’Nien and Leon Dajaku made sure Sunderland got what they deserved.

One player whose near-perfect performance was faulted by only his failure to score was Nathan Broadhead, who was handed his opportunity in the starting XI by Lee Johnson and certainly made the most of it.

A third clean sheet in a row for Thorben Hoffman, a first Sunderland goal for his former Bayern Munich teammate and a brace of assists for Aiden McGeady topped off an excellent evening for the red and white wizards.

A thrashing like that doesn’t come too often for Sunderland fans, despite spending most of their time towards the top of the table since relegation to League One.

We look at the Black Cats’ biggest wins of the last five seasons…

Lincoln City 0-4 Sunderland (2020/21)

Last December Sunderland travelled to Sincil Bank for the first time since a 2-0 loss in October of the previous year.

Lee Johnson had been appointed head coach the week before as the Black Cats sat in nineth place, while their opponents were in second.

Three goals in the first half near enough guaranteed the three points for Sunderland – with an early Grant Leadbitter penalty, a Charlie Wyke goal and Jack Diamond’s first in the league for the club handing them a healthy lead at half-time.

The Black Cats looked comfortable in the second half, with Wyke doubling his goal tally for the day half way through.

Despite a brilliant victory for the visitors, Lee Johnson’s side still sat outside of the play-offs while the Imps remained in the top two.

Sunderland 5-0 Tranmere Rovers (2019/20)

Sunderland hosted Tranmere Rovers back in October 2019 in what was Phil Parkinson’s home debut, after a narrow defeat away to Wycombe Wanderers three days before.

The Black Cats sat mid table in 10th place while Tranmere were already facing a relegation battle, two points from the bottom three.

Parkinson appeared to get off to a dream start to life at the Stadium of Light, thanks to goals for Duncan Watmore, Chris Maguire, Lynden Gooch, Luke O’Nien and Will Grigg.

In fact, a goal and an assist for the latter suggested the new era on Wearside could be a chance for the former Wigan Athletic striker to finally kickstart his career in the North East.

The 5-0 win left Sunderland in seventh place on only goal difference – level on points with both Oxford United and Doncaster Rovers above them.

Despite cruising to the perfect victory, Parkinson’s side went on to win only one of their following six league fixtures.

Gillingham 1-4 Sunderland (2018/19)

Sunderland travelled to Gillingham for their second away trip of the 2018/19 season after winning two and drawing one of their opening three fixtures under Jack Ross.

Chris Maguire was having a dream start to life on Wearside after his move from Bury, with the opener against the Gills already his second of the season.

Meanwhile, new signing Max Power also grabbed his first for the club, while academy products George Honeyman and Josh Maja also added to the Black Cats’ goals.

Jack Ross’ side had initially found themselves behind after a very early goal from Tom Eaves, however were quick to react and scored within a minute of the restart before running riot at the Priestfield Stadium.

Sunderland 4-1 Rochdale (2018/19)

Sunderland’s victory over Gillingham wasn’t there only 4-1 of the season, with the Black Cats replicating the scoreline exactly a month later.

Following their trip to the Priestfield Stadium, Sunderland had won only one of their following four fixtures until they hosted Rochdale at the SoL.

Josh Maja and Lynden Gooch were the stars of the show as they thrashed the Greater Manchester club with a brace for each of them - with the former making it six goals in nine League One games.

The Black Cats ended the afternoon in third place – three points off the automatics.

Sunderland 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (2017/18)

Sunderland’s final day of the 2017/18 season was one of the very few highlights of a terrible Championship campaign, with the hosts already relegated to League One while Wolves had previously confirmed their promotion.

Sunderland fans weren’t to expect much against a team that included Conor Coady, Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota, but goals from Ovie Ejaria, Ashley Fletcher and Paddy McNair gifted the supporters one last cheer before they dropped down to the third tier.

The Wearside club’s last win came over a month previous – in another shock 4-1 victory over Derby County.

Crystal Palace 0-4 Sunderland (2016/17)

In a season that saw Sunderland win only six games and also suffer relegation to the Championship, their 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace in February 2017 came as a huge surprise.

The Black Cats had only managed two points since mid-December and sat five points from safety in 19th place.

While Palace were also fighting relegation, it was hard to see where Sunderland were going to pick up points for the remainder of the season and fans were shocked when it was Selhurst Park where they would find them.

Rather comically, Lamine Kone and Didier Ndong were the ones to open the scoring against Sam Allardyce’s side, before star man Jermain Defoe claimed a brace in the second half.

While Sunderland fans celebrated wildly, a brilliant performance against their relegation rivals wasn’t enough to lift them out of the bottom three and instead they were left glued to the foot of the table.