Moment of comic theatre ushers in pantomime season on Wearside

On numerous occasions during the 75 minutes he spent on the pitch, Nick Woltemade cut an extremely isolated, peripheral and forlorn figure in the opposition box.

- Barry Glendinning Stadium of Light

A bad afternoon for Newcastle’s German striker got significantly worse shortly after halftime when he cut an even more isolated, peripheral and forlorn figure in his own team’s box after inadvertently heading a Nordi Mukiele cross past Aaron Ramsdale from six yards out.

Woltemade’s embarrassing own goal proved to be the unwitting match-winner in a contest that had until that point been high on full-blooded aggression but low on moments of real quality. As he made way for Yoane Wissa, it was no surprise the Sunderland fans granted the visibly deflated 23-year-old a sarcastic ovation. A fan favourite on Tyneside until the 46th minute of this match, Woltemade has now pulled off the unlikely feat of winning a permanent, bitterly ironic place in mackem hearts.

It may have been the biggest show in town but the first Premier League derby between these sides in almost a decade wasn’t the only local drama scheduled for yesterday afternoon. Less than a mile from the Stadium of Light, the matinee performance of Sleeping Beauty was kicking off at the Empire Theatre. The cursed Princess Aurora will have done exceptionally well to have dozed through the febrile, visceral cacophony that rumbled across town from all four sides of the nearby cauldron of conflict when the players took to the pitch under a tifo boasting a ferocious black cat with fangs slavering and claws bared.