Bristol City 3 Sunderland 3: Black Cats produce ‘Bristanbul’ heroics to come from three down in Championship thriller
Visitors pull off incredible comeback at Ashton Gate... but fans may not have been there to see it after official Twitter account said they were leaving after going 3-0 down
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SUNDERLAND produced a stunning late comeback from 3-0 down to grab a point a Bristol City.
And the club's Twitter branded the game "Bristanbul" after earlier admitting that they could not blame the travelling supporters from leaving Ashton Gate early.
Chris Coleman's strugglers are deep in the relegation at the bottom of the Championship.
And a trip to the high-flying Robins was hardly the easiest of locations for them to begin their great escape.
But a number of hardy souls made the long trip down from North East to cheer on their side - but their hopes were quickly dashed.
City, who have only won once in 2018 but remain firmly in the play-off spots, needed just five minutes to break the deadlock through Aden Flint.
And things quickly went from bad to worse for the Black Cats as they fell 3-0 before the half time whistle.
Famara Diedhiou scored both from close-range, prompting a large number of the Sunderland contingent to head for the exit early.
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The official Black Cats Twitter account even admitted at this point it was "game over" before adding "the #redandwhite army are heading for the exits and to be perfectly honest you can't blame them."
But despite some fans and their social media account throwing in the towel, the players had not, and they made any early leavers pay the price in a remarkable last twenty minutes.
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Even when Josh Brownhill's own goal pulled one back for them with 70 on the clock, even the most hardened follower from Wearside would have believed what was about to follow.
And then it got interesting as Aiden McGeady made it two for Coleman's side with just under ten remaining.
Suddenly Sunderland were flying and they had Bristol City on the ropes as they pressed for an unlikely point.
But the dream appeared to be over when on-loan Ashley Fletcher had an effort saved in magnificent fashion in the last minute of normal by Frank Fielding.
However, the drama was not over as their was one final twist in the fairytale.
In the second minute of stoppage time they drew level as City's Marlon Pack diverted the ball into his own net to spark wild celebrations amongst the Black Cats players and staff and those fans remaining in the away enclosure.
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And the fight back was so dramatic the club's Twitter account branded it "Bristanbul" in reference to Liverpool's three-goal comeback to win the Champions League against AC Milan in Istanbul back in 2005.
Sunderland remain second bottom and one point ahead of Burton in the Championship table.
They are three points from safety and are next in action against Brentford at the Stadium of Light next Saturday.