Wise Men Say: I don't care what Joey Barton thinks - Sunderland fans will always celebrate important goals

Joey Barton is not the first to scoff at a late goal for Sunderland and I’m sure he won’t be the last. For someone who claims to be a fan of North-East football, he clearly doesn’t remember that we all like to go a bit crazy at a late goal, don’t we?

After all, it was only three weeks ago his supposedly beloved Newcastle feverishly celebrated an FA Cup victory over Oxford United with one fan taking things way, way, too far. So enjoying the moment regardless of the opposition is not a pursuit solely limited to Sunderland fans.

We’ve had this before – it’s once more indicative of the reverse snobbery that Sunderland face in League One. We can’t actually help being a big club. Previous management has worked really hard for us not to be a big club as we’ve tumbled through the Football League pyramid.

We’re football fans that love our team and when your captain scores a 97th minute equalizer in a game we really needed to get something out of, what are we going to do? Stand and politely applaud?

If, god forbid, we ended up sliding further into footballing obscurity, I’m sure we’d celebrate just as much if it was a last-gasp goal against Farsley Celtic.

Max Power’s last second finish looked against all the odds. With seconds on the clock, the ball had gone from back to front and then back to Jon McLaughlin, who sent a hopeful punt towards the final third. We never, ever, ever seem to score from these, but somehow, amazingly, we did.

And how important will that prove to be? At this stage of the season, performances do not matter, it’s the results you need. We have found a way of winning football matches in different ways and Sunday presents the opportunity to get into the automatic promotion places for the first time this season.

Keeping up the pressure on the leading pack is essential. And I don’t care how we do it – or who it’s against.