Bittersweet – that’s the word that perfectly captures what it must have been for Brian Brobbey after Sunderland lost 5-3 to Manchester City on Sunday, with the Dutch forward scoring all three goals for the visitors.
Despite a remarkable solo achievement, Brobbey had to face the cruel reality of his team losing the eight-goal thriller. This way, he joined a quite short list of Premier League players who also scored a hat-trick in their sides’ respective defeats.
Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier is the only player who has done it twice, in the Saints’ defeats to Oldham (4-3, May 1993) and Nottingham Forest (3-4, August 1995). Dion Dublin of Coventry City did it against Sheffield Wednesday (3-4, December 1995), and Dwight Yorke of Aston Villa less than a year later against Newcastle (4-3, September 1996).
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The last player to score a hat-trick in his team’s defeat before Brobbey was Roque Santa Cruz. The Paraguayan striker netted all three goals for Blackburn Rovers in their 5-3 loss to Wigan Athletic in December 2007.
Today against Manchester City, Brian Brobbey was the first player to score a hat-trick but end on the losing side in a Premier League match since Roque Santa Cruz for Blackburn Rovers against Wigan Athletic in December 2007.
Brobbey was satisfied with his own performance after a run of five games without a goal at the start of the new season, but admitted it was a “really hard” game to lose to City, given his hat-trick heroics.
Brobbey told Sky Sports post-defeat: “It’s hard being on the losing side when you’re scoring three goals. It’s really hard to lose.”It was up and down, up and down. Man City are a really good team with lots of quality, so yes, we tried. I think we played a really good game. We tried, but it’s hard when you lose. We just need to keep going. We won 1-0, so it’s been good to get three points. We just need to keep building. That’s why, as a group, we have to keep going.”