On This Day (2nd November 2019): O'Nien bags winner in Southend win!
11/02/2024 01:00 AM
"This was indeed a dark time for the club, and it only seemed to worsen under Parkinson's leadership" — but, we won, thanks to a Luke O'Nien header!
The apathy surrounding the Stadium of Light in late 2019 was growing. Jack Ross had been dismissed as Sunderland manager, and his replacement, Phil Parkinson, wasn't exactly the fans' choice. Parkinson's dour demeanour and equally grim style of football made it difficult for fans to rally behind him.
Following a slow start to his reign, a win against a poor Tranmere Rovers side was much-needed to ensure the pressure didn't mount even further. Yet, a defeat to Shrewsbury the following week, along with a midweek Carabao Cup loss to Oxford United, meant Sunderland needed a home win to keep the wheels on track for Parkinson.
Sol Campbell's struggling Southend United were next up, the perfect opportunity for a team needing a win. Memories of the previous game at Roots Hall lingered for many supporters.
Despite some early pressure from the away side, Sunderland looked dominant from the start, with Aiden McGeady particularly active, finding himself with space to make things happen. Southend's defence held firm only for so long before Sunderland took the lead midway through the first half.
A sweeping move that started with Conor McLoughlin and Max Power on the right was quickly worked across to McGeady and Denver Hume. Hume then put in a perfect cross for Luke O'Nien to attack with a diving header, scoring the game's only goal.
From then on, it was one-way traffic, and the question wasn't whether Sunderland would win, but by how much. The answer, unfortunately, was that they wouldn't score again—a fact easily summarised by the presence of Will Grigg and Marc McNulty up front, two strikers struggling to find the back of the net.
McGeady came closest with a shot from outside the box, but it was saved. Later, Duncan Watmore managed a typical burst forward, only for it to end in an all-too-familiar way: with the ball blasted over the bar.
Ultimately, the result mattered most. A 1-0 win against a lowly side like Southend wasn't anything to celebrate, but Parkinson focused on the positives, praising his team's resilience.
I'm very pleased. We've had two long trips on the road, and maybe we weren't at our sharpest for the whole game, but in patches, we were good. It's important when you're not at your best to still get the result. We showed good resilience and should have scored more, although some of our crossing wasn't as good as we like.
It's an important win for us, with the possibility of not having a league game for a while because of international call-ups. Everybody knew it was important to get the result.
This match would mark Sunderland's last win for almost two months, during which they plummeted down the table in extraordinary fashion. Based on their performance in this game, it wasn't hard to see why. Everything about Sunderland's play was lateral, slow, and predictable, with Parkinson seemingly draining the team of any semblance of creativity.
Meanwhile, tensions were brewing off the pitch as Parkinson clashed with some of Sunderland's most influential players, including Chris Maguire and Aiden McGeady—the latter ultimately being banished from the squad entirely.
This was indeed a dark time for the club, and it only seemed to worsen under Parkinson's leadership.
