THEY are snapshots of a moment that will never be forgotten.
Alan Browne, flicking out his foot to prod towards the penalty area. Illan Meslier, transfixed as he watches the arc of the ball in flight. Meslier again, tortured in horror as he turns towards his own goal, realising the magnitude of his mistake. Back to Browne, euphoric, tearing away towards the corner flag. Luke O’Nien, the broadest of grins on his face, leaping onto his celebrating team-mates.
Football is a game of such moments. Some are magical, some mundane. Some speak of genius, others of hours spent methodically working on the training ground. Every so often, though, something so far out of the ordinary occurs that it is impossible to shoehorn it into a category that makes any kind of sense.
Think Darren Bent and the beach ball, and you’re probably at the only thing that comes close to matching the 97th minute of Friday night’s game with Leeds United for improbability and madness. Goalkeepers simply don’t do what Illan Meslier did, certainly not at a game-defining moment, deep into stoppage time. Football doesn’t work like that. Expect that on Friday, it did.
“I just about saw it,” said Browne, who admitted to being ‘embarrassed’ about his role in his side’s remarkable equaliser in the immediate aftermath of Friday’s game. “I turned away, then you get that sense of the crowd seeing something, so you turn back.
“I just saw it trickle over the line. I didn’t really know what happened, didn’t know if it was mine or not. But I just legged it to the corner flag, giving it large.”
Browne can’t remember too much about the moment Meslier failed to make any contact with the ball because he had turned away in something approaching disgust at his failure to ask a more serious question of the Leeds goalkeeper. He doesn’t need much prompting to recall what happened next though.
“It was unbelievable,” said the midfielder, who had only come onto the field as a 73rd-minute substitute for Chris Rigg. “Everyone just legged over to the corner. I’ve seen the video of Luke O’Nien, it was like something you’d see on Wrestlemania. He could have hurt himself, never mind all of us.
“It was crazy, but that just sums the moment up really. It was carnage. They’re the scenes that we want. Obviously, we don’t want to be doing it for draws, or leaving it that late, but to get that feeling around the place, with everyone in it together, is massive. It keeps everyone connected, and it’s a huge part of what we’re trying to build.”
It is also a goal that will be remembered for years to come, no matter what happens the remainder of the season, with Browne prepared to fight to ensure he remains at the heart of it.
His flick towards the area deflected off Junior Firpo before bouncing in front of Meslier, and as things stand, the goal has gone down as a Firpo own goal. Browne wamnts to change that, not least because his contract contains a goal bonus that means he is awarded extra money every time he scores.
“I’m not having it as an own goal,” said Browne, with an impish grin across his face. “There’s a goal bonus in my contract, so I’ll be making sure I get that! It’s my goal as far as I’m concerned. It didn’t take a massive deflection, did it? I’ll be having it. I need you all to write that it’s my goal.”
Whoever scored it, the stoppage-time equaliser felt like a huge moment in Sunderland’s season, maintaining the momentum that had lifted the club to the top of the table and further strengthening the feelgood factor that has emerged from the wreckage of the summer.
This had the potential to be an extremely difficult campaign with Sunderland having appointed an untried boss while selling their best player from last season. Instead, there is a growing sense that something special is brewing on Wearside, with the youngest squad in the Championship playing with fearlessness and flair.
Browne can sense the positivity, even if a decade of experience in the Championship means he is not getting too carried away just yet.
“It’s obviously a great start and there are some positive signs, but it’s a long season,” he said. “There’s definitely going to be some ups and downs, it won’t just be a steady road to the top.
“There’ll be loads of twists and turns, like there is every year in the Championship, so it’s about sticking together when we do hit a bad patch, and making sure that it doesn’t last too long.
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“I think that’s where myself, Chris (Mepham), Simon (Moore) and the rest of the older lads can help with the experience side of things. The talent is there, there’s no denying that, it’s just about making sure it’s there week in, week out.”
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