MAYBE this is a new era after all. Not only did Sunderland make history thanks to the size of their Boxing Day crowd yesterday afternoon, they also found themselves on the right end of three hugely controversial refereeing decisions. If Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven can engineer a change of luck as well as a shift in mood, they really will have performed miracles on Wearside.

In front of the biggest crowd in the English third tier for almost four decades, the Black Cats were able to close to within five points of league leaders Portsmouth thanks to Aiden McGeady’s first-half strike.

That, however, only tells half the story, with Bradford City having left Wearside feeling hugely aggrieved at the performance of referee Darren England and his assistants.

Not only did England deny the Bantams what looked a clear penalty when Max Power fouled David Ball in the area, he also opted not to dismiss Tom Flanagan despite the centre-half appearing to push Nathaniel Knight-Percival in the face.

That was contentious enough, but Sunderland enjoyed an even bigger left-off with nine minutes left when Jon McLaughlin allowed Jack Payne’s long-range strike to squirm through his body. Replays suggest the ball clearly crossed the line, but with his assistant failing to raise his flag, England waved play on. There have been plenty of occasions in the recent past when things have not gone Sunderland’s way. That was certainly not the case here.

Jack Ross will be disappointed at his side’s failure to press home their earlier dominance during the second half of yesterday’s game, but the Sunderland boss will also be delighted at the way in which the narrative surrounding his club has changed. ‘Lucky Sunderland’ has a rather nice ring to it given the way things have gone in the last few years.

There was certainly a very different feel to the Stadium of Light than was the case as Sunderland suffered back-to-back relegations, and while there is still plenty of work to do to secure an immediate return to the Championship, things are finally moving in the right direction.

It is now just over seven months since Stewart Donald completed his takeover from Ellis Short. There have been some notable moments since then – both positive and negative – but this was the day when it truly felt as if Sunderland had turned over a new leaf.

The Stadium of Light’s South Stand was officially renamed the Roker End. The doors of the Beacon of Light were thrown open prior to kick-off to host a raft of supporters’ events. Marty Longstaff, lead singer of the Lake Poets, sang “Shipyards”, the theme tune of Sunderland’s Netflix series, in the centre-circle at half-time. But it was the size of the crowd that really confirmed the existence of a new era.

The attendance of 46,039 was the highest in the Football League this season. No Championship side has been able to boast a bigger gate, indeed yesterday, only Manchester United and Liverpool played in front of more fans in the whole of England’s top four divisions. You have to go back to 1979, when Sheffield Wednesday hosted Sheffield United in a Boxing Day derby to find a bigger attendance in the third tier. As Donald rightly predicted in his programme notes, the scale of the support was indeed “unbelievable”.

The question was whether Sunderland’s players could produce a performance to match the sense of occasion. They just about managed it, although it was to Bradford’s credit that the hosts had to be at something close to their best to claim all three points.

Sunderland were generally the side dominating possession and doing the majority of the probing in the final third, but Bradford carried a threat on the break and were comfortable in possession. The result was an entertaining affair.

Ross was able to name what he would probably regard as his strongest XI, with Chris Maguire and Josh Maja returning to the fold after failing to start the defeat at Portsmouth, and Sunderland threatened sporadically in the early stages without ever quite establishing complete control.

Maja, whose future remains in a fair bit of doubt given his failure to commit to a new deal, dragged an eighth-minute shot across the face of goal, and went even closer moments later as he stole ahead of his marker to reach Bryan Oviedo’s low cross, only for his flicked effort to drift wide of the target.

McGeady directed a scuffed effort straight at Bradford goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell, but the visitors threatened themselves midway through the first half when Payne picked up a short throw, drifted into the area and fired just wide of the left-hand post.

It was a reminder that it would be dangerous to take anything for granted, but a collective weight was lifted when Sunderland broke the deadlock six minutes later. With the goal going in in front of the newly-christened Roker End, the fabled ‘Roker Roar’ was finally back in evidence on Wearside.

O’Donnell will probably think he should have done better with Maja’s deflected strike, with his parry allowing the ball to rebound back into the area. Maguire couldn’t quite latch onto it, but McGeady swooped to sweep home his seventh goal in the last ten games. An Irish international with nearly 100 senior caps to his name, the 32-year-old continues to make hay in League One.

Sunderland’s victory was never really in doubt from that point on, although there was a scare at the start of the second half when George Miller’s through ball sent Lewis O’Brien behind the Black Cats defence. McLaughlin came racing from his line, O’Brien went round him, but the angle was never in the Bradford midfielder’s favour and Luke O’Nien was able to chest down his cross-cum-shot with a minimum of fuss.

Moments later, and the home side’s nerves were jangling again when David Ball appeared to be fouled by Max Power, just as he was shaping to drill in a shot from a Miller knock-down. It looked like a penalty, but England waved play on.

The referee was the centre of attention again with quarter-of-an-hour left, booking Flanagan after the centre-half tangled with Knight-Percival on the floor. Bradford’s players were demanding a red card, claiming Flanagan had pushed his opponent in the face, but England deemed a yellow to be sufficient.

That was a controversial call, but an even more contentious moment was to follow with nine minutes left.

Payne fired in a long-range effort that McLaughlin should have gathered, but the Sunderland goalkeeper somehow allowed the ball to squirm through his grasp. He tore off backwards to rectify his mistake, but while he fell on the ball close to his left-hand post, it looked as though he had been unable to prevent it crossing the goalline.

Time seemed to stand still, but while England glanced across to his assistant, Mark Dywer’s flag stayed down. With no opportunity for a VAR review, Sunderland had survived. Having been on the wrong end of a few debatable decisions in recent weeks, this was definitely a case of the tables being turned in the Black Cats’ favour.

Bradford’s bench were incensed, but Sunderland saw out the rest of the game without suffering another scare. A record crowd leaving happy. Times have, indeed, changed.