Luke O’Nien rushed straight over to the dugout to embrace head coach Mike Dodds after the final whistle at Elland Road. It felt like an apology accepted and a sign of approval all rolled into one.
Twenty minutes earlier, O’Nien was shaking his wrist rather sheepishly, with a wry smirk on his face, having escaped punishment for a blatant handball in the penalty area from Crysencio Summerville’s in-swinging corner. The Sunderland captain found himself entangled with Leeds United centre-back Joe Rodon, pulling at his shirt with one hand before punching the ball away with the other. Both instances went unnoticed by referee Tim Robinson. As was Dan Ballard leaning into Summerville’s curling effort in the first half, the defender leveraging his elbow to divert the Leeds winger’s attempt wide of the post. Around 33,000 of the 36,000 in attendance felt aggrieved.
“I think the whole stadium sees it, but the four guys who are around to judge it – I don’t think it was a bad position to see it when the arm is so far in the air. Normally you can sense it,” Leeds head coach Daniel Farke contested.
“Even the first, for me, sorry but if you lean into the ball and clear it with the elbow it’s a clear penalty, and then only three minutes added time? In the last six years in the Championship there was not one game with just three minutes added time and today there were substitutions and so much time-wasting. It felt a bit unfortunate.
“I’m not sure if we had two or three minutes more we would have scored the goal, but you never know. I think there were many, many things against us today.”
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As much as O’Nien and Ballard both may have proverbially ‘gotten away with one,’ this was a night which finally raised some spirits for Sunderland despite it being a night which officially ended their Championship play-off hopes – albeit those aspirations have been extinguished for some time.
Resilient. Stubborn. Disciplined. Words you would struggle to associate with Dodds’ team this time around – Dodds having won just one of his nine games in interim charge, Sunderland one win in their last 11 Championship games following this, a second successive stalemate.
But there is something more distinguished about a tactically astute draw against a title chasing side, a side who are now 21 games unbeaten on their home ground, a side who had scored 39 times in front of their home fans this season rather than a drab shutout with a relegation-threatened side in Queens Park Rangers on your own patch.
Dodds had demonstrated in his previous stint when taking charge of three games in December, including the reverse fixture with Leeds, he could organise his teams into an adept defensive structure. But given this Sunderland team just eight days earlier had shipped five at home to Blackburn Rovers, you would be forgiven for thinking they could have replicated their outstanding endeavours against Leeds that night four months ago.
“I was really conscious around the last game because I didn't want to copy and paste what we did earlier in the season,” said Dodds. “I watch a lot of football and I try and watch as many games as far back as possible.
“I just think they bump their full-backs so high, you might as well go to a back five because they walk onto your shape anyway. That's the conclusion that we came to, so we went very similar in terms of the game at the Stadium of Light.
“We were a bit more aggressive in the centre of the pitch. I think the out of possession stuff I was really comfortable with, and I didn't feel like they were going to score. There is a tinge of disappointment because our in-possession stuff was disappointing.”
Sunderland stuck to the plan and did not deviate.
Timothee Pembele made his first start for the club since joining last summer from Paris Saint-Germain. A player who has struggled with injury since arriving on Wearside and has failed to live up to expectations in the club’s under-21s set-up. It felt like a bold call.
But given Sunderland’s joy against Leeds in the reverse fixture, with three centre-backs aided by wing-backs and a rigid defensive shape from the front, Pembele, like O’Nien, who declared the significance of ‘putting things right’ following that harrowing 5-1 defeat to Blackburn, performed admirably.
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Sunderland held Leeds to their second worst expected goals tally (xG) of the season at the Stadium of Light in December and here they held them to their third worst, including their worst first half xG of the campaign. Leeds had 12 attempts at goal but just one of those was on target. It’s the first time they have failed to score in 2024 and the first time they have failed to find the back of the net at Elland Road since a 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on September 2, that despite Sunderland coming up against such a potent, dynamic front four who had 75 goal contributions between them this season.
“Without the ball I thought we were excellent,” said Dodds. “We completely nullified all of their threats and just watching some of the clips back I think we had the better of the chances, although they were few and far between I’ll admit that.
“I’m really proud of the group. That’s a fourth clean sheet now in five games, albeit one of those games we did concede five – so I’ll take that one. If we can be a little bit more of a threat going forward we could be a really good team.”
Dodds is right in that Sunderland had the better opportunities, despite seeing just 30 per cent of the ball. Jack Clarke, back at Elland Road, flashed a header wide after quarter-of-an-hour before slaloming his way into the area to bring a smart save from Illan Meslier in the Leeds goal 10 minutes before the break as Sunderland finally dipped their toes back into the Leeds half. In the second half, Clarke found himself with time and space in the penalty area but opted to cross for Patrick Roberts rather than try his luck from a tighter angle, the cross diverted behind by the retreating Ethan Ampadu.
They may not have been clear-cut chances themselves, with Sunderland very limited in what they offered in the final third, but this performance was about more than that. It was about grit and determination – something which has been lacking in 2024 and a point acknowledged by Farke when assessing Leeds' shortcomings.
“We dominated the game. We put lots of pressure on them, I think we had 13 or 14 corner kicks, many free kicks, but sometimes it’s a game where you have to score from this," Farke said.
"It was difficult against them – I think it’s their fourth clean sheet in the last five games so you have to score the first goal against them to open them and whenever we were in a finishing position we were a bit over excited or not precise enough.
“It was important not to lose, sometimes a point can be crucial at the end of the season. The last six games there can be some crazy results. Yes, I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t convert one of our many, many set pieces, a bit disappointed with the decisions of the referee and a bit disappointed that we didn’t create more clear-cut chances, but, overall, who knows. It could be a valuable point.
“At home we nearly always find a solution, but sometimes there are one or two times in 2024 where we don’t find the opening and you have to take the second-best possible result which is a draw. We’re not dancing on the tables tonight but it’s also not the end of the world.”
Sunderland, too, are hardly dancing on the tables. Although taking four points from a Leeds side fiercely contesting an immediate return to the Premier League is admirable, the 34-point gap between the two teams in the Championship table is galling.
It leaves things all a little bit confusing. Over the course of the last eight days Sunderland have gone from the shambolic to the courageous, with a little bit in-between against Bristol City. In some aspects it represents what they are; a mid-table team. But that will never quite suffice in this part of the North East in the Championship.
If Leeds are a benchmark for promotion this season, Sunderland have stood up to be counted across 180 minutes of intriguing, tactically fascinating football and shown their mettle. Making it make sense on a more consistent basis is what has been lacking.
Equally, digging in and remaining disciplined in games you are considered heavy underdogs is admirable but for Sunderland this shouldn’t be a blueprint for what they are, irrespective of the success it has yielded against such a dangerous team in Leeds. Twelve months ago, Sunderland were dangerous in their own right going to places the equivalent of Elland Road and being the aggressor, a ploy which led them all the way to the Championship play-offs.
There’s a time and a place for well-drilled stifling and Sunderland, and Dodds, have executed that expertly on both occasions against Leeds to demonstrate there is talent and there can be leadership within this young group of players. Balancing that out with the other facets of their game which have been present only in moderation this season is what remains key.
“Our general out of possession stuff out of all of the games I’ve taken has been really good. I’ve been disappointed, at times, with our quality with the ball and that’s something we need to improve upon as a group but we’re aware of that,” said Dodds.
“They’re a really, really young group and they’re giving us everything at the moment. They gave us everything there this evening and I’m really, really proud of the group. We can’t celebrate too much, because the reality is it’s a draw and we’re Sunderland Football Club and we want to win games of football, but there’s lots to be happy about.”
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