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Wearside will always be a special place for James Milner. On Boxing Day 2002 he scored his first Premier League goal for Leeds here, at the age of 16 years and 356 days. Who, back then, could possibly have imagined that the 40-year-old Milner would have been back at the Stadium of Light on Saturday as an impressive part of Fabian Hürzeler’s Brighton midfield?
He played the entire game too, helping guide the 33-year-old Hürzeler’s team to their first win at Sunderland since 1981 as the injury-hit hosts could find no riposte to Yankuba Minteh’s fortuitous second-half winner.
With Robin Roefs still hamstrung, Melker Ellborg made his home debut for Sunderland. The former Malmö goalkeeper soon showed off some impressive potential by stretching out a leg to make a fine save to deny Jack Hinshelwood.
No Brighton player would ruffle Sunderland’s defence more than Hinshelwood as he asked all sorts of awkward questions from the No 10 role behind Danny Welbeck. Hinshelwood’s only problem was that when Welbeck cued him up for a second scoring opportunity he wasted it by shooting straight at Ellborg. Welbeck, meanwhile, is remembered with affection here after impressing for Sunderland during a loan stint from Manchester United in 2010-11.
Chemsdine Talbi’s fancy footwork down Sunderland’s left flank periodically offered Mats Wieffer cause for self-doubt and Lewis Dunk made a vital clearance off the line to keep out the Morocco winger’s shot.
Injuries sustained in training by Nilson Angulo and Enzo Le Fée had created space for not only Talbi but Chris Rigg in Régis Le Bris’s starting XI. While Angulo could be out for six weeks, Sunderland hopes the influential Le Fée will, along with the similarly sidelined Roefs, Nordi Mukiele and Reinildo, recover in time for next Sunday’s game at Newcastle.
Rigg will hope to keep his place after a strong performance on the right of midfield. The 18-year-old has spent most of this season out of Sunderland’s first-team picture but, as his audacious first-half overhead kick flew fractionally wide, Rigg served up a reminder as to why he remains among English football’s brighter young talents.
He thought he had scored his first Premier League goal at the start of the second half but an angled shot dispatched past Bart Verbruggen with his supposedly weaker right foot was disallowed. A video assistant referee review had detected that Omar Alderete – who had headed on Granit Xhaka’s free-kick – was offside and the smile was wiped off Rigg’s face.
Shortly afterwards Brighton were ahead, thanks to what only can be described as a fluke. When Sunderland failed to clear a corner, Minteh miscued his kick from the tightest of angles but, somehow, its flight deceived Ellborg and the Brighton forward looked as if he could hardly believe his luck. Given that Habib Diarra was lying prone, injured, in the area at the time, Sunderland cried injustice but, much to their chagrin, Minteh’s goal stood.
It would surely have been all over had Diego Gómez not missed a sitter for Brighton but, with Minteh becoming badly distracted – not to mention fortunate not to be sent off – after being drawn into an argument with the streetwise Luke O’Nien, Sunderland regrouped.
O’Nien did well but the moment when he replaced Dan Ballard concerned Sunderland fans. Ballard has been excellent at centre-half this season and would be a huge miss at St James’ Park next Sunday.
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