Towards the end of the first half and just after Aston Villa had scored their fourth improbable goal in perhaps the Premier League season’s most improbable scoreline, the natives turned restless.
Most of them made for the exits - some presumably for a stiff drink to recover from the defending they had just witnessed, while many didn’t even bother to return, leaving the second half to be played to the backdrop of a swathe of empty red and white seats.
Others got angry. In ugly scenes, the Sunderland bench was approached by angry fans shouting the odds at the coaching staff, the substitutes, and anyone else who would listen. As stewards tried to calm the situation Gus Poyet, the manager, stood on the touchline - head buried in trademark snood and looking shellshocked.
After the game and with his side at least managing to keep the score down to the 4-0 it was at half-time, Poyet remained stunned by what he had seen.
“I’m extremely disappointed. I was not expecting this to happen, but that’s football, I suppose,” he said, admitting the first 45 minutes was the worst his team - which lost 8-0 to Southampton earlier in the season - had played during his tenure.
Advertisement
Poyet refused to answer questions about his future and whether he would be speaking to owner Ellis Short after this calamity. Instead, he promised to try to learn the lessons of the defeat.
“I am going to analyse the first half very carefully and then we will see,” he said.
“I need to accept the responsibility. I pick the team, we train in a certain way and then Saturday 3pm, that’s the thing.”
The manager also refused to criticise the supporters who tried to confront him in the dugout.
“I would do the same, yes,” Poyet said.
Advertisement
“It was not acceptable, the first half was not acceptable. A few weeks ago, the excuse for losing against QPR was starting the game badly; today we started well and we lost in an even worse way.
“It’s excuses whether you start well or not, it’s about 90-plus minutes playing football, understanding and doing the right things, and we didn’t do it, so there’s no-one to blame apart from ourselves.”
Tim Sherwood, the Aston Villa manager, was delighted with his team’s display in registering their third straight win in the past seven days. He also had some words of comfort for his former Tottenham team-mate Poyet.
“It’s not great, is it, when you are beaten heavily at home, but Gus will bounce back. He’s that type of character who has seen it all and done it all before,” Sherwood said.
“There’s one thing Gus has got, he’s got a bigger heart than anyone.”
Advertisement
The result, secured thanks to two goals each from Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor, means Villa leapfrog Sunderland and go 16th in the Barclays Premier League.
Sunderland, who haven’t won for six league games, now lie 17th - four points clear of the drop zone.