Sunderland boss Jack Ross said this Wear-Tyne derby was ‘no win’ for his club - but given they are now two games from Wembley it feels like a significant victory for their long-suffering supporters.
There were 16,654 at the Stadium of Light for a Checkatrade Trophy fixture that will enter the hosts’ history books but will be readily discarded as an Under-21 outing by the visitors.
That is why Ross had his reservations - win and they’ll say you have only beaten the kids, lose and it’s another embarrassing episode for the Netflix cameras.
And the documentary makers were here to record the latest chapter of a story they must surely hope ends in League One promotion and a Wembley final.