O’Neill shrugs off ‘marginal’ offside call

THE omens were not promising for Sunderland yesterday when boss Martin O’Neill was forced to do without goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, defenders Phil Bardsley and Titus Bramble and midfielder Kieran Richardson.

But O’Neill’s side produced a performance of real grit to give themselves the opportunity to snatch a remarkable victory at the death.

There was a suspicion of offside about the goal, although after seeing his side concede a controversial penalty to drop to two points to Everton on St Stephen’s Day, O’Neill was delighted to have received the benefit of the doubt this time around.

O’Neill said: “They tell me it was marginally offside — marginally, marginally — and we ended up winning the game.

“It’s been an incredible weekend for teams and we are delighted with three points.

“The roar for the goal was deafening, and I was delighted to hear the roar for the final whistle as well.

“It was a fantastic effort, really, really fantastic.”