DARREN’S ON A DOWNER
<M<IP B@:B# <M<IP >F8C# <M<IP >8D< Bent in agony as he helps sink Cats
DARREN BENT can remember the good times.
The days when the Stadium of Light was bouncing and he was banging in the goals.
The former Sunderland striker’s fall from grace has been almost as dramatic as that of his former club.
In the last five years, he has scored fewer goals than he notched in 18 months on Wearside.
Yet everyone knew the twist in this red-and-white tale of misery, pain and botch-up when after 86 minutes substitute Bent cancelled out Paddy McNair’s first-half opener.
It sparked a riotous, frantic and catastrophic finale for Chris Coleman’s side.
Moments later John O’Shea’s header hit the bar and two minutes into injury time Liam Boyce bagged the winner. McNair’s last-gasp equaliser was then ruled out amid rancour – and relegation.
Burton’s winner had thrown them a lifeline and sealed Sunderland’s fate.
Bent is a hate figure in these parts after quitting the club in acrimonious circumstances seven years ago.
But despite the boos and insults hurled at him, he said Sunderland’s demise saddens him. “If it was going to be us or them relegated, of course, I’d prefer it to be them,” he said.
Sympathy
“But Sunderland is a fantastic club and I still have incredible memories of playing the best football of my career here.
“Of course I have sympathy. I may get a bad reception but this is a special place and I appreciated every moment I was here.
“To think this football club with this stadium is now in League One. That is scary.” Bent’s words will offer little comfort to long-suffering Mackems nor will those of Burton’s manager, Sunderland-born Nigel Clough, who revealed what might have been at his famous father Brian’s former club.
“Dad spoke unbelievably affectionately about Sunderland,” said Clough.
“I think there were a couple of opportunities over the years of him coming back here and he talked about what a great thing it would be to manage them.
“He didn’t talk about many other clubs like that.
“He never said, ‘I want to manage Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal’ but he talked about this one.”
Coleman wants to stay but with the debt-ridden club up for sale and owner Ellis Short having washed his hands of it, Sunderland and their manager are in limbo.
“The problem is we don’t know who the owner is going to be and that puts doubt into everyone’s mind,” said Coleman, who has yet to speak with Short let alone meet him.
“At the minute he does not want a lot to do with us. He wants out.”