Ahead of Sunderland’s game this weekend against Wycombe Wanderers, safc.com has decided to look at five memorable January games at the Stadium of Light.
Tickets for the game on Saturday are available at this link: www.safc.com/tickets.
Sunderland 2-1 Ipswich Town, January 17 1999
In January 1999, Sunderland were running away with the Division One title and they continued their dominance of the division with a 2-1 victory against second-placed Ipswich Town on January 17 1999.
Nearly 40,000 fans packed into the Stadium of Light and saw Niall Quinn net two first half goals as Peter Reid’s men eased to victory.
Sunderland lined up with pretty much their strongest XI, as Thomas Sorenson, Chris Makin, Michael Gray, Kevin Ball, Andy Melville, Paul Butler, Alex Rae, Lee Clark, Niall Quinn, Kevin Phillips and Allan Johnston all started.
Quinn opened the scoring on 26 minutes as he diverted a Johnston cross into the roof off the net.
The lead was doubled six minutes later through Quinn again as he bundled the ball across the line after a scramble in the box.
Ipswich did get a goal back through Matt Holland as he thundered the ball into the top corner just before half time.
The Black Cats held onto the points though and would go on to win the division with a record 105 points.
Sunderland 4-1 Ipswich Town, January 1 2001
Sunderland and Ipswich were both in the Premier League in the 2000-01 season, and both sides were having a fantastic campaign.
When these two sides met on New Years Day 2001, they were both vying for Champions League spots.
It would be Ipswich who took the lead, as future Black Cat Marcus Stewart dinked the ball over Sorenson in the fifth minute.
The Lads would get back on level terms 20 minutes later, as Julio Arca bent a perfect free kick into the top right corner leaving Richard Wright no chance in the Ipswich goal.
Kevin Phillips put Sunderland ahead on 57 minutes as he followed a Danny Dichio header and finished neatly into the bottom right corner.
Six minutes later, and Sunderland were two ahead as Dichio got in on the act, as Phillips returned the favour and teed him up for a simple finish.
Stefan Schwarz finished the scoring off on 87 minutes as he volleyed an effort past Wright to send the capacity crowd home happy.
The win put the Lads third in the table, and they would eventually finish seventh, missing out on a European spot.
Sunderland 2-0 Portsmouth, January 13 2008
The 2007-08 season was Sunderland’s first back in the Premier League after they earned a stunning promotion the previous season with Roy Keane at the helm.
Portsmouth came to the Stadium of Light in mid-January and the Lads were desperate for a win to put them within touching distance of 17th place.
Sunderland welcomed star signing Kieran Richardson back into the fold, and he was electric – netting two goals in the first half.
Richardson got his first on 33 minutes as he finished emphatically past David James after being expertly set up by Kenwyne Jones.
He then got his second on 44 minutes as he dribbled past a Pompey defender before finishing into the left side of the goal.
The win was vital for the Lads and helped them build a foundation for the second half of the season when they would stay up comfortably.
Sunderland 2-0 Burnley, 31 January 2015
Gus Poyet was looking for a spark back in January 2015, and he found it with the signing of Jermain Defoe from Toronto FC.
He made his debut two weeks prior at Spurs and was looking for his first goal in red and white against Burnley.
Connor Wickham opened the scoring for the Lads as Anthony Reveillere put a perfect cross into the area for him to finish neatly past Tom Heaton.
Defoe got his big moment as he netted his first goal in a Sunderland shirt as Patrick Van Aanholt fired a ball across goal for him to tap into the open net.
That victory moved the Lads up to 14th place in the table.
Sunderland 3-1 Aston Villa, 2 January 2016
Sunderland faced bottom of the table Aston Villa in early January 2016 with both sides desperate for three points to try and get themselves closer to survival.
It was a cagey game, but Sam Allardyce’s men ran out 3-1 winners and began their push to survival.
Van Aanholt got the scoring underway as he fired a low shot that deflected off Micah Richards and past Brad Guzan in the Villa goal.
However, a stunning Carlos Gil goal in the 57th minute pegged the Lads back and made for a nervy finale to the game.
Defoe then got a crucial goal as he beat Joleon Lescott to the ball and fired past Guzan to send the Stadium of Light into raptures.
He got his second goal and the clincher as he capitalised on terrible Villa defending to divert Ola Toivonen’s pass into the goal.
Sunderland would famously stay up that season and relegate their local rivals Newcastle in the process.
