Ross hails ‘outstanding’ crowd after Sunderland beat Bradford in front of 46,039

Posted Thursday, December 27, 2018 by PA

Jack Ross claims Sunderland’s record-breaking Boxing Day attendance underlines his club’s enduring status within the English game despite their position in League One.

The Black Cats attracted a crowd of 46,039 to the Stadium of Light, and the vast majority went home happy after Aiden McGeady scored the only goal in a 1-0 win against Bradford.

Bradford were controversially denied an equaliser despite Jack Payne’s late shot appearing to have crossed the line after it squirmed from goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin’s grasp, but Ross was keen to reflect on the positives of the afternoon from a Sunderland perspective.

The club set a new record for the biggest attendance recorded in League One in its current guise, with only Manchester United and Liverpool having played in front of more fans today.

Ross said: “The crowd is outstanding, that’s the only way to describe it. It’s an incredible show of loyalty and commitment from a fanbase that’s done it time after time this season anyway, but to come out in those numbers and show me there are those extra supporters here is incredible.

“I’m just pleased we produced a performance that was good for the most part and a result that sent them home happy.

“I think I’ve said often enough you don’t really appreciate how big it is until you’re in it. I say that to people all the time when they ask me how the job is going. A lot of people say, ‘Yeah, it’s a big club’ but it’s a huge club. This showed that again.

“I’ve said it a lot recently but it is genuinely a privilege to manage this club. There are not many clubs you could manage in the country who could do that today in any league so it is an honour to do it. It’s a responsibility but I enjoy that.”

Bradford boss David Hopkin was unhappy with the key decisions that went against his side.

He said: “You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, I think we’ve all seen it. You could even see by Jon’s body language, he’s like a salmon stuck in the net. I could see it through the side netting and that’s why I ran down the touchline.

“These decisions go against you when you come to big arenas to play. But great credit to my players because even with that, and I thought we had a stonewall penalty we were denied, we made one mistake in the first half and it’s cost us three points.

“I didn’t need VAR, I could see it was in from where I was, that’s why I was nearly down by at the linesman because I could see it. The players are down and obviously I am too. It’s a good yard-and-a-half, two yards over the line. The decision was poor.

“David Ball had a stonewall penalty claim – why would he dive when he’s through on goal? If you get in front of somebody and you hit the ground, he’s not going to dive from there when you’re running at full tilt.”