On our Monday evening show, Stephen summed up life as a Sunderland fan perfectly when he said, “you feel like you’re going to wake up on the morning of Wembley again soon and think, ah we’ve got Sheffield United today, that was a canny dream wasn’t it?”

Ever since we took the pitch at the CBS Arena back in May it is hard to think of a better eight months or so following the lads. Three late winners in that play-off campaign, a summer of unprecedented recruitment, that glorious return to the Premier League against West Ham, last minute drama, the club and the city feel indistinguishable from one and other and now our victory over the Mags has ensured that we will be unbeaten at home on Christmas Day.

If things have felt like a whirlwind for us Sunderland fans, then recent months must have been something of a rollercoaster for Newcastle supporters as well. From predicting six easy points in the forthcoming campaign, to pretending not to have heard of any of our new signings, declaring that Sunderland had easy fixtures and would soon be found out, to bemoaning our ‘lucky’ late goals, which of course isn’t sustainable.

In the aftermath of their seventh Tyne-Wear derby loss in ten games, their cacophony of contradictions has got even louder and even more ludicrous. The popular narrative seems to be that playing us was the third biggest fixture in a seven day period for them, yet victory over Fulham in the Carabao Cup quarter final wasn’t sufficient compensation for losing to us.

We are told that we have ‘won our cup final’, but once again there was footage all over social media from The George Washington hotel in Washington – a 50-50 battleground, admittedly –  showing fights breaking out and chairs being flung in every direction.

But don’t take my word for it, Charlie Bennett, a writer from Newcastle World (and a University of Sunderland graduate) tweeted the following on Sunday night: “The benefit of Sunderland being 14 miles away is the ability to hit my local (the Perry) for a post-match debrief. Or so I thought. Fights breaking out left, right and centre…no place for a quiet pint.”

In fairness he goes on to point out that he does not subscribe to the view that Bayern Leverkusen or Fulham could ever be as big as a game against Sunderland.

I do not need to remind our learned readers of the time that Newcastle fans rioted in the street following a loss to us in 2013 including a horse being punched. Or the scenes in 2014 when we ruined their Christmas for the first time. Or further back in 1990 when they staged a pitch invasion in a vain attempt to get the Division Two play-off semi-final abandoned.

It’s almost as if their sense of entitlement is such that they can’t comprehend that little old Sunderland could simply be better than them on the day and they cannot cope with this reality.

But of course, it’s a one-sided rivalry, they aren’t bothered about us and have much bigger fish to fry.

Another element of Sunday’s game that appears to have the majority of Tyneside boiling with rage, is us celebrating a game which was only won through an own goal, or only beating them 1-0 when they played so badly.

To be fair, our fans simply enjoying the moment is something that gets their backs up in general, earlier on the season a Newcastle fan from South Shields took to talkSPORT to complain about our easy start to the season and was so rattled that he predicted a 10-0 win for Newcastle at St James’s Park in March. In fairness he did not share his thoughts on how things would pan out on Wearside – I doubt he envisaged us remaining above Newcastle at this stage of the season having just triumphed over them.

Again, I cannot allow these accusations of over-celebrating to pass without pointing out the hypocrisy of it coming from a fanbase who still sing songs about a derby day win over statistically the second worst Premier League side of all time and basked in the glory of beating a team with an average age in their early 20s, who went on to finish 16th in The Championship.

All of the above just highlights the remarkable progression of Sunderland AFC in the two years since that FA Cup tie. A sizable chunk of Newcastle’s fanbase has always looked down upon Sunderland both as a team and a city and this strange superiority complex has undoubtedly fuelled their reaction to their latest defeat.

The night they turned up in their droves, wrapped tea towels around their heads to welcome an authoritarian regime with open arms, cheered on by a compliant local media, for whom the majority abandoned any pretence of impartiality. There was a sense that they were about to become the Manchester City of the North East.

Of course, I’m not saying Champions League football and a League Cup success is anything to be sniffed at, but as things stand, they are struggling for form, consistency and a loss to Sunderland really does seem to have tipped them over the edge. Wednesday’s victory against Fulham where they looked far from convincing does not change a thing.

It’s not just the fans who have bought into this though, when we were languishing in League One, Kieran Trippier took to social media to have a dig at Sunderland while attending a *checks notes*…Sam Fender gig. Their own owner posted a sarcastic congratulations when we got promoted and urged us to practice for the derby.

Since then, the transformation at on Wearside has been remarkable, both on and on the pitch, the city centre is almost unrecognisable compared to the last time this was a Premier League fixture and since we gained promotion back to the top flight the ambition, the togetherness, the atmosphere generated at the Stadium of Light and the performances from the lads has made this a fantastic time to be a Sunderland supporter.

For all the meltdowns about PSR regulations, and alleged big six cartel that is plotting against the Mags, it should not be forgotten that they have spent £800m since the takeover and they still can’t beat Sunderland in a league fixture.

After the last time we played them, it felt as though we were a million miles away from competing with them on the pitch, which just makes our performance, the spine tingling atmosphere we generated, the scenes that went on well into the night and the meltdowns all across Tyneside, (and the unenlightened sections of County Durham and Washington), all the sweeter.

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