‘I’m happy…’ – Sunderland captain Dan Neil explains cheeky celebration to Middlesbrough fans.
Sunderland team captain Dan Neil celebrated in front of Middlesbrough fans at the Riverside on Monday night
Sunderland captain Dan Neil has explained his celebrating in front of the Middlesbrough fans at the Riverside Stadium during a passionate atmosphere for the Championship clash
A late own goal from Ryan Giles secured the three points for the Black Cats, after Dan Neil and Wilson Isidor cancelled out an early goal from Delano Burgzorg. Hayden Hackney had restored parity but it was a moment of magic from Enzo Le Fee to carve open the game late on.
Sunderland’s team captain Neil celebrated his goal in front of the home fans at the Riverside Stadium and cupped his ears to the Teessiders after drawing his side level with a deflected shot off Middlesbrough defender George Edmundson.
“I think last year at home, I got a lot of stick. I’m happy to do the double on them this year, because like I said, it’s a really tough place to come and we’ve struggled here the last two years,” Neil said when asked about his celebration by The Echo. “We nicked a point last year. We probably didn’t deserve to nick a point last year, but today I thought we fully deserved the three points, and it could have been by more, to be honest.”
Sunderland have now done the league double over Middlesbrough home and away for the first time since 1962. Le Bris’ Black Cats are now just three points away from the automatic spots in the Championship with 16 games left to play.
“I think that again tells you how tough it is to come here,” Neil said when asked about the record. “The crowd’s always right behind us. We came out with a fire show and flags today, and it was absolutely bouncing in the stands. We said that we had to get through the first 20, and we didn’t manage to do that completely.
