I was there.
We absolutely battered Derby without actually managing to score, and just as the game looked to be heading towards a goalless draw, Derby scored in the last minute of the game, totally against the run of play.
As the game moved into injury time, we kept pressing for an equaliser and Poooooooooooooooom kept looking across to the dugout for the nod (no pun intended) to join in with our attack.
As the seconds ticked down to the end of injury time, he finally got the go ahead to get up the pitch for a corner kick, and the rest is history. . .
He rose like the proverbial salmon to power in a header no keeper in the world would've saved.
The away end erupted in sea of limbs and bodies falling over seats, as we celebrated liked we'd won the league, the cup, the Champions league and the Grand National.
As Poooooooooooom raced back to his goal, he was shrugging off his team mates congratulations.
The game restarted and the ref blew for full time.
Poooooooooom had denied his former club a victory they really didn't deserve, yet he got a tremendous standing ovation from all around the ground, from Derby & Sunderland fans.
My mates had left the ground when Derby had scored late in the game, and they were gutted when I got back to the bus, to describe one of the best headed goals I've ever seen, in my 52 years of watching The Lads.
It was an absolute real privilege, to be in the ground, to see such a fantastic header from our goalie - a header that ANY outfield player in the world would be proud to have scored.
The night out in Thirsk was fantastic with plenty of Sunderland fans around the pubs there, and chants of Poooooooooooom could be heard booming out from just about every bar in Thirsk, that night.
We absolutely battered Derby without actually managing to score, and just as the game looked to be heading towards a goalless draw, Derby scored in the last minute of the game, totally against the run of play.
As the game moved into injury time, we kept pressing for an equaliser and Poooooooooooooooom kept looking across to the dugout for the nod (no pun intended) to join in with our attack.
As the seconds ticked down to the end of injury time, he finally got the go ahead to get up the pitch for a corner kick, and the rest is history. . .
He rose like the proverbial salmon to power in a header no keeper in the world would've saved.
The away end erupted in sea of limbs and bodies falling over seats, as we celebrated liked we'd won the league, the cup, the Champions league and the Grand National.
As Poooooooooooom raced back to his goal, he was shrugging off his team mates congratulations.
The game restarted and the ref blew for full time.
Poooooooooom had denied his former club a victory they really didn't deserve, yet he got a tremendous standing ovation from all around the ground, from Derby & Sunderland fans.
My mates had left the ground when Derby had scored late in the game, and they were gutted when I got back to the bus, to describe one of the best headed goals I've ever seen, in my 52 years of watching The Lads.
It was an absolute real privilege, to be in the ground, to see such a fantastic header from our goalie - a header that ANY outfield player in the world would be proud to have scored.
The night out in Thirsk was fantastic with plenty of Sunderland fans around the pubs there, and chants of Poooooooooooom could be heard booming out from just about every bar in Thirsk, that night.
