Nick Woltemade had not looked like scoring all game. The Germany international was lumbering and labouring and little more than a passenger in his first experience of a Wear-Tyne derby. Then, out of nothing, he sent a bullet header into his own goal.
They will remember the moment with delight at Sunderland, but it will be a source of pain for a long time on Tyneside. That is what this fixture is all about.
He was not the only one struggling, but Woltemade defined this troubling defeat. Newcastle were poor, their two wingers, Anthony Elanga and Anthony Gordon, abject. The midfield lacked control and poise and the formation was questionable, set up to counter-attack, but unable to string enough passes together to launch one.
Newcastle were bullied, unsettled and stretched. They were really poor offensively and defeats by Sunderland are not easily brushed off. It will be time to batten down the hatches because a storm of criticism is coming.
At the final whistle, the celebrations were everything you would imagine and there was time for a final insult to Newcastle. When Howe’s team won here in the FA Cup two seasons ago, the team posed on the pitch for a victory photo. This time it was Sunderland’s turn to savour their bitter rivals’ demise, posing for their own commemorative shot as the travelling fans traipsed dejectedly out of the stadium.
For manager Eddie Howe, there are difficult days ahead. That is the nature of this fixture and what makes it so great, even when the spectacle is poor. The emotion is everything. Calm and common sense have no place here.
“This defeat will sting for a long time,” Howe said. “It’s a painful and horrible feeling. The performance was nowhere near what we needed it to be and I take full responsibility.
“We can only apologise to our supporters because we did not work their goalkeeper, we did not play incisive, attacking football. It’s a huge concern and we know the criticism will be intense after that. It wasn’t the finest performance from any of our front three.”
He was right. Elanga is yet to play well for 90 minutes following his £55m summer move from Nottingham Forest and barely did anything right against Sunderland. Gordon has been far too inconsistent for too long.
But it was Woltemade who decided the result in a performance that will haunt him and Howe for a long time. The German did not win headers, he did not link play, was not strong and did not get on the end of anything in the box.
These performances are becoming increasingly common from Newcastle’s record signing, a centre-forward who looks like he is not going to score a goal and barely influences the game at all.
Not this time, however, albeit not in the way he wanted. Having struggled to clear a corner at the start of the second half – Gordon’s weak, lazy header getting no distance – the ball was whipped back into the box by Nordi Mukiele. It was a good cross, curling and hit with speed but, with nobody behind him and under no real pressure, Woltemade leapt, got into a mess and sent a bullet header into his own goal via the underside of the crossbar.
Newcastle, who had not created a decent chance in the first half, were behind in a game in which they had already struggled to match Sunderland’s intensity. They never really looked like equalising. Substitute Yoane Wissa almost got on the end of a deflected cross and that was about it.
As for Woltemade, he looked distraught and well he might. Heroes and villains are made in derby games and he had just dropped a clanger. When he was replaced in the second half, he went off to a mortifying standing ovation from Sunderland’s ecstatic home support.
It was a poor game settled by a comical own goal, but Sunderland deserved their win. They were more energetic, more determined and more cohesive.
It will leave Howe with some awkward questions to answer. It does not matter if you are the most successful manager in the club’s modern history, you do not lose to Sunderland and not feel the heat. His team were unambitious and barely offered a goal threat. There will be a sting in the tail. Newcastle looked like a team who did not understand what this fixture meant or what it takes to win it. Sunderland did and got their reward.
What a ride they are on and what an appointment Régis Le Bris has been as head coach. This victory stretches Sunderland’s unbeaten league run over their bitter rivals to 10 games. The region’s underdogs have never enjoyed a spell of such dominance over their neighbours before.
They were hostile and relentless. A team powered by positivity and togetherness. They may not have created much in terms of goalscoring chances, but the pressure they exerted on Newcastle forced the mistake at the start of the second half.
The Sunderland manager underlined that his side were under no illusions as to what this fixture meant to the fans.
“I’m proud and happy,” said Le Bris. “It was a derby and we were expected [to win] by our fans. This win is well deserved, we were mature and the lads were incredible. It’s good for the region, the club, the fans. We knew before it was a special game.”
That’s a really tough one for everyone connected with the club. We feel desperately sorry for our supporters today. We didn’t play our best game. It was a tough game, really few chances for both teams. We gad our moments and spells but couldn’t really break them down to create the chances that we wanted.
I thought we stood up really well physically, I don’t think there’s an issue there.We defended set-plays pretty well apart from the one we conceded from which was a second phase from a long throw. It was a game that was probably going to be decided by one moment and that moment has gone against us.
We chased the game pretty well. I thought we had control but couldn’t force that opening. Our plan was to come out a lot more front-foot and aggressive in the second half but the goal happened before we could get to grips with it. Nothing’s decided on today but we’re disappointed we haven’t got more for our supporters and all the obvious reasons.
Derbies are there to win it doesn’t matter how. I know how painful it was here for these guys when they won here and it motivated us. We deserve respect because we are working day by day very hard and we deserve where we are.
Sunderland’s 10th unbeaten league derby and fourth home win in succession in the fixtures is greeted with rapture and racket from the home side. Absolute dog of a match but why would Sunderland care? As Peter Drury says, so farcical was the decider that this game will be known henceforth as ‘the Woltemade derby’.
Some head tennis in the Sunderland box ends in safety for the home side as Schar’s attempt to play Wissa in behind skips out for a goal-kick.
After that hiatus there might be a couple more minutes to come. Xhaka needs treatment for a cut above his left eye.
Hall bends it in with his left to the near post, Sunderland head it away. The ball breaks out to the left where Willock is penalised for a bodycheck on Roefs that triggers some argy-bargy. Isidor to the fore. Willock, Thiaw and Bruno are booked for their part in it as is Isidor.
Mundle turns Murphy’s cross behind for a corner on the right.
Newcastle keep giving the ball away as frantic panic takes over. But they have a goalkick when Xhaka’s long diagonal skips out.
Four minutes of stoppage time are signalled.
Mundle dribbles up the left then runs ahead of the ball letting Miley nick it back. They switch it to the other wing but Willock, after taking the ball to the byline, slices his cross out for a goal-kick.
Le Fee is booked for kicking the ball away to prevent Newcastle taking the corner quickly. When it does come Ballard heads it out. Back come Newcastle with Barnes down the left to cross but Thiaw is penalised for a shove as the cross hangs in the air.
Miley has a crack from 25 yards, hits a defender and the ball rebounds for Isisdor to dart off upfield but then his pass looking for Mundle is awful. The whole match has been bereft of quality.
Mundle → Talbi.
This will sting Newcastle fans for obvious reasons but even objectively, without the 150+ years of rivalry, they’ve not only shot themselves in the foot but stunk the place out. How they need some leadership in that forward line.
Murphy’s early cross takes a wicked deflection off Reinaldo and Wissa only just cannot reach it as he slides into the six-yard box. Roefs gathers but for once he was slow off his line.
Ballard diligently tracks Barnes’ clever run and turns Murphy’s cute cross behind. From the second knockings from the corner Bruno screws his cross-shot behind for a goal-kick.
Wissa → Woltemade.
Wissa has the confidence to take the No 9 shirt. Can he make an impact?
Excellent from Isidor to chest down Alderete’s 35-yard diagonal on the right of the box and smack iy goalwards when it sits up a bit too high for comfort. Ramsdale paws it behind, registering Sunderland’s first shot on target of the game.
Isidor → Brobbey
Hume → Traore
Hume, playing on the right wing, has his first cross blocked. Wissa is ready to come on.
Schar’s rocket of a shot hits Ballard on the head and goes behind for a corner. That must have stunned him but he seems OK to continue. Sunderland defend the corner solidly and the one that follows defending it solidly.
Bruno pounces when Barnes’ cross os headed out to the D. Le Fee cedes the space and lets Bruno wrap his instep around the shot but he bends it back in too early, making it a comfortable save.
Bruno spots Murphy’s run and slides a fine pass down the inside-right channel as Murphy blindsided Ballard. But Roefs’ alertness off his line thwarts Newcastle again.
The Stadium of Light is one of the few remaining grounds where fans can clatter the metal fascia of the stand to make a racket. Newcastle starting to settle now but have two banks of four and one of two to try to break through. Barnes gives up on probing and swings over a cross that Roefs comes out to catch with ease.
Gordon had just enjoyed his best moment of the match by turning Reinaldo who legged him up. But it didn’t earn him a reprieve.
Tonali is booked for wrapping an arm round Brobbey as he was spun. Neville suggests he should have carried on and stayed upright rather than accepting the free-kick given Sunderland had outnumbered Newcastle in their final third.
Willock → Tonali
Barnes → Elanga
Murphy → Gordon.
Sunderland penalty claim is easily brushed away by the referee. Tindall shouts down the touchline and tells Willock, Murphy and Barnes to get stripped.
Jason Tindall and Eddie Howe are in discussion but no changes yet. Neville says Newcastle are being beaten up by Sunderland and he has a point. Joelinton is needed to run all over the opposition. And Wissa, Barnes and Murphy up top.
Talbi burns past Livramento and gets to the byline to cut a pass back just beyond Brobbey. Sadiki is running the show and comes back to trigger another attack down the left that is only thwarted by the excellent Thiaw standing up, reading the pass and booting it out.
Sunderland have their tails up and Howe needs to make changes. Whip off his front three who have been awful and shake things up.
Sunderland 1 Newcastle 0 (Woltemade og) Farcical. Newcastle head out Mukiele’s long throw but Sunderland work the ball back out to thr full-back on the right. His cross eludes Alderete at the near post but Woltemade inexplicably decides to try to head it over and buries it from eight yards instead, crashing it in off the cross-bar.
Nick Woltemade has not looked like scoring all game and then, under no pressure, with no Sunderland player behind him, has put a brilliant header past his own goalkeeper.
The Stadium of Light has erupted in noise. You also have to criticise Gordon too, he did not clear the ball and invited the cross.
No personnel changes. Sunderland kick off, with an overload on the right of six runners. They move it back to Roefs wo launches a diaginal with his left foot up that win. Traore takes possession and invites the tackle that earns his side another throw-in.
After the big build up that was a really poor advert for the North East derby. Sunderland have shaded it and had the only clear chance – just before the break – when Dan Ballard headed over the bar.
Newcastle’s attack has failed to spark. Both wingers, Gordon and Elanga, have been dreadful and not for the first time in recent weeks, Woltemade is a passenger at centre forward.
It’s one of those games where losing is more significant than winning and while there has been plenty of commitment, passion, blood and thunderous tackles, there’s been very little urgency, pace, space and skill.
The first of three minutes of stoppage time ends with Hall running 40 yards before slipping Gordon down the wing but his touch is os heavy he knocks it out for a goal-kick. I agree with Luke that Elanga has been poor. So has Gordon. It’s grim fare all round.
Xhaka eventually whips a deep, left-footed,, inswinging cross from the right towards the back post where Ballard, up for the throw-in, had peeled off Livramento but he heads it behind from a tight angle.
The loss of Dan Burn to injury is a huge blow. He has been dealing with Sunderland’s threat from long throws and corners. The way he collided with Mukiele, whose knees drove into his midriff, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has cracked some ribs.
Schar → Burn.
Mukiele whangs his long throw to the near post and Thiaw wins the header, holding off Ballard. Brobbey is down after taking a kick in the goolies from Bruno as he followed through from a clearance.
Sunderland see off Hall’s long throw and build an attack up the right that ends with a throw-in of their own when Hall blocks Le Fee’s cross. Burn is struggling and holding his side as if he’s cracked at least one rib. He signals that he needs to come off and goes to ground to stop the restart.
Burn is OK. Schar, who was poised to come on if required, sits back down. Reinildo shoves Bruno over with his arm in the back, barging him to the ground. Newcastle free-kick on their right. Bruno arcs it to the far post, beyond his main runners, and Mukiele heads it out for a throw-in.
Burn is winded and requires lengthy treatment.
Burn and Mukiele slide into fight for a loose ball, Burn gets there half a second first and Mukiele’s knees hit him in the midriff as he slid across the greasy turf. Mukiele is booked but can count himself unlucky.
A little bit of encouragement for Newcastle in the last few minutes as they have ventured further up the pitch, but it’s been a desperately poor game so far with neither side playing well. A lot of huff and puff but very little quality. Sunderland are coping with Newcastle’s attacking trio with ease though. Elanga, Gordon and Woltemade all off the pace. Wouldn’t be surprised if Elanga is taken off at half-time. He has done very little right.
Newcastle play their way out of a tight spot by the right corner flag with Bruno’s cute backheel triggering an opportunity for a counter that is killed by Elanga’s lazy pass.
Sunderland long throw on the right and Ballard goes down when challenged by Thiaw for the header but he had a fistful of Thiaw’s shirt. Sunderland work it back out to the right and Mukiele lays it back to Xhaka who wafts a left-foot shot over from 22 yards.
Brobbey is booked for turning into Lionel Blair and miming the waving of a yellow card when tackled from behind by Thiaw who also has his name taken.
Newcastle corner on the right after good work from Livramento on the overlap. Roefs punches the corner out to his right shakily but they can’t clear. Newcastle switch it back to Livramento on the right and while his cross is headed out it doesn’t go very far and Woltemade picks it up on the 18-yard line, seems to slip and the chance has gone. There was a VAR check but no replay shown on Sky.
Le Fee goes down clutching his face when beaten by Burn to a header. The much smaller man was actually stooping at the time so there’s no foul. A few moments earlier Hall had made headway down the left but his cross was easily picked off.
Bruno is foiled from behind by Le Fee, kicked up the tuchas on the right, and is awarded a free-kick. Newcastle knock it backwards, sticking to their patient approach which almost bites them when Woltemade is pickpocketed while dawdling on the ball but Sunderland. again, can’t find the right pass that stops Ramsdale coming out to gather.
Mukiel comes over to the left to hurl a throw into the box. Ballard and Burn challenge for it and the ball breaks to Alderete who hooks it back across goal from the left, eight yards ir so out, and out for a throw-in on the right.
Sunderland have certainly had the faster start and Newcastle have not matched their intensity so far. The visitors seem happy enough to let their rivals have the ball in front of a four man defence and a five man midfield, but they are not showing any composure when they are in possession.
I thought Nick Woltemade and Sandro Tonali were both really poor against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek and neither have started well again here.
Newcastle work the free-kick to the right of the penalty area via a diagonal but Elanga can do nothing with it and ends up squaring it to Roefs as he ran out of road on the byline. Elanga is a flyer but I think Barnes is a more effective player. But given Gordon prefers the left flank it might be hard to get him in the XI.
Sunderland flick on the corner a la Gilzean but Tonali is alert to the threat and steps ahead of his man to head it further away at the back post. Half a minute later Tonali wins a free-kick when shielding the ball and hitting the deck when Traore tried to dislodge him.
Sunderland fans are invited to ‘Stand up if you hate the Mags’. Most take to their feet. Sunderland have a free-kick inside their half which they feed up the wing to Traore who hits an early outswinging cross that Thiaw puts behind for a corner.
Gordon gives Woltemade an earful for dithering on a cross when he had slipped his man. By the time he does deliver it’s to Elanga’s underlapping run rather than to Gordon who cannot get there. Sunderland fly up the other end down the left and almost put Brobbey in for an angled shot but Ramsdale is sharp off his line, dives at his feet bravely and smothers the pass.
Newcastle break up the right with Elanga who shifts the ball infield to Woltemade and carries on his run into the box but the centre-forward’s pass is overhit and Alderete stops Elanga running on to it.
Sunderland corner on the right after an error by Burn who fails to be decisive when he had the chance to make a clearance earlier. Tonali wins the header from the corner, then Miley and finally Woltemade hoofs it away. .
Sunderland are very composed in possession but they are nit making forward runs or picking the right pass so far. A wee bit safety first so far, understandably. Traore does manage to get to the byline but is so tightly marked he turns back and finds Mukiele whose cross doesn’t beat the first defender.
Sunderland enjoy a good minute’s possession as Newcastle retreat into a 4-5-1 and defy Sunderland to find some space. Eventually Mukiel launches a long pass up the right for Traore to chase but Elanga stuck with him and held him off as the ball ran out for a goalkick.
As I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You fades away, Newcastle kick off, attacking from left to right and Bruno rolls it all the way back to Ramsdale who kicks it long up the left. Traore is penalised for a foul on Hall when battling for the second ball and Newcastle have a free-kick just inside the Sunderland half. Bruno takes, chipping it towards the 18-yard line where Woltemade is penalised for a push.
For Gary Rowell precedes kick off. He died yesterday, 50 years to the day from his Sunderland debut. How poignant this feels.
There’s a deafening roar as Sunderland walk out, in red, white and black, Newcastle in navy blue. Even the mascots are joining in with Republica’s Ready to Go.
Gary Neville also notes that Sunderland are refusing to use the word Newcastle United on the big screens and propose to put the score up thus: Sunderland 0 Visitors 0
An interesting aside as we approach kick off, looking at the team sheets, there are four boyhood Newcastle United fans in the matchday squad and one in the Sunderland one too.
Dan Burn, Lewis Hall, Lewis Miley and Jacob Murphy all followed Newcastle as kids, as did Sunderland midfielder Chris Rigg, whose dad remains a huge Magpies supporter.
Rigg has been in the Sunderland Academy since he was eight years old and admitted to Telegraph Sport earlier this year that he came from a Newcastle United supporting family.
Sunderland have two fans on the bench in Dan Neil and Anthony Patterson, Newcastle have three of their boyhood supporters in the starting XI.
Will it make a difference? Possibly not, but for a derby match that carries as much local interest as this one, I thought it was worth highlighting.
For our fans it is massive and for us as well. We want to play our football with intensity and maturity which will be required. We are now able to manage different shapes. We can start with a back four and evolve into a back five with the team or a sub. It’s important to have options. We will try to press high but they have the ability to keep the ball and push us back and we have to prepare for anything.
Sunderland Roefs; Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Reinaldo; Sadiki, Xhaka; Traore, Le Fee, Talbi; Brobbey.
Substitutes Patterson, Neil, Geertruida, Rigg, Mayenda, Mundle, Isidor, Adingra, Hume.
Newcastle Ramsdale; Livramento, Thiaw, Burn, Hall; Miley, Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes; Elanga, Woltemade, Gordon.
Substitutes Ruddy, Schar, Joelinton, Wissa, Barnes, Jacob Murphy, Willock, Alex Murphy, Ramsey.
Referee Peter Bankes (Merseyside)
Geertruida and Hume drop out from the back five for Reinaldo while Talbi and Brobbey are the other two changes as Isidor drops to the bench.
Dan burn moves across from left-back to left-centre-half while Fabian Schar starts on the bench for Newcastle.
Howe makes three changes from the side that started the victory over Burnley: Hall, Tonali and Miley replace Schar, Ramsey and Willock.
Reinaldo returns and Brobbey starts
It is a game unlike any other in football, a derby pitting two cities against each other in a conflict that has spanned hundreds of years going back to the English Civil War.
Newcastle versus Sunderland is not just a football match, it is a rivalry forged from a shared history of economic competition, jealousy and animosity.
When football is the most popular expression of civic pride, it is inevitable that derby days unleash something powerful and sometimes toxic. It is two warring tribes colliding.
“It’s probably the most intense derby game there is,” said Newcastle manager Eddie Howe. “The North East is a hotbed for football, obsessed with the game. This is an intense rivalry, one that we respect.
“I was aware of it before I came here, but it’s very different when you’re seeing it from afar to actually living and experiencing it yourself. That’s a great thing for the game, I love that and it’s one of the things that makes football so special.”
Eighty-eight league goals in 257 appearances for a decade between 1974 and 1984.
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Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of the first league Tyne-Wear or Wear-Tyne, depending on which side you dress, derby for 10 years. Sunderland and Newcastle fans all have special memories of a fixture that has become venomous over the past 60 years, not just on the streets surrounding the stadiums, but golden ones on the field too, from John McNamee, Good Friday 1970, Dabizas and Shearer, Borini and Defoe. For a primer on the fixture and its national, not just regional importance, here’s Luke Edwards’ scene-setter in which he talks to the historian Dan Jackson.
No Sunderland fans will need reminding that they are unbeaten in the last nine Premier League derbies and won the last three before Newcastle’s relegation in 2016 was followed by their own a season later. The overall tally stands at 51 to the Mags and 47 to the Mackems with 44 draws and today’s match begins with only a point separating Sunderland in 10th, after a superb, cynic-defying start, and Newcastle, after their Isak-strife hangover, in 12th. Sunderland are unbeaten at home with four wins and three draws in Régis Le Bris’s first top-flight campaign while Newcastle have lost three, drawn three and won merely one on the road but at least that was on their last away trip to Everton where they ran out 4-1 winners.
Luke O’Nien, who seasoned Championship and League One watchers will know for the rashness of his judgment in the tackle, is suspended after being sent off in the dying moments of their 3-0 defeat by Manchester City last time out while Habib Diarra and Aji Alese remain on the casualty list. For Newcastle, Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman, Emil Krafth and William Osula are all ruled out but Eddie Howe was confident that Joelinton and Nick Pope will be available for the matchday squad.
2025-12-14T16:41:09Z