Jermain Defoe smashed in a flying volley, wheeled away in celebration, and jogged off the training pitch.
During a session thrown open by his new Sunderland boss David Moyes, frontman Defoe was the shining light.
His thirst for scoring, and delight at that sweet strike, was played out even during a windy, damp midweek practice at the Academy of Light when there were no watching fans to impress.
Does he always celebrate training ground goals?
“You have to! But unfortunately there’s no cameras filming so you can’t watch them back!”
In pictures — Sunderland get back to work as international break ends:
Defoe is the man, once again, tasked with firing Sunderland away from relegation. He’s done it for the last two seasons.
Having just turned 34, he has experience and perspective that age and 257 club goals brings.
And the England international has a message for his team-mates: No more excuses.
Sunderland are bottom of the league with no wins as the Premier League campaign resumes after the international break, and have crucial trips to Stoke and West Ham – the other two sides in the drop zone – up next.
Defoe concedes: “This is not a situation you want to be in.
“I have experienced it for the last couple of years. We’ve left it late and obviously would prefer to get the points in the first half of the season instead of waiting until the last eight games or whatever, because that’s scary.
“We have a massive game against Stoke and if we get three points, then we’re up and running.”
Asked if Sam Allardyce quitting for England in July hampered the start to the season, Defoe added: “Yes, but it’s just an excuse for players to say, ‘There’s been ups and downs, it’s been tough, the manager has gone and a new one has come in.’
“So what?
“Go out there and perform. You’re playing in the Premier League, it’s something you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid, so if you can’t motivate yourself and go out there and perform, you shouldn’t be playing the game.”
Moyes, like other Sunderland managers, found it difficult to attract players to the North East.
Defoe is a big name to buck that trend. He enjoys life on Wearside, and wants to lure others to help the survival battle when the transfer window reopens in January.
“It’s cold. That’s it. Everything else, it’s just an excuse. It’s an excuse. If you love football, you can’t make excuses,” he said.
“It’s like going to an away game at Stoke. It’s going to be cold, it’s a tough place to go. You lose the game, you make excuses.
“If you love playing football, if you want to play in front of amazing fans, a big stadium, at a club with fantastic training facilities, then put some tracksuit bottoms on and come and play for Sunderland.
“It’s a soft way out to make excuses about the weather. I’m a real London boy, but I’ve loved it, I’ve enjoyed it and embraced it.
“Anyway, I went to Toronto [in Major League Soccer, from Spurs in 2014]. The cold! Wow. You can’t even go out. If does feel tropical here after Canada!”
The pressure of scoring the goals that Sunderland need sits comfortably with Defoe.
He added: “I speak to the defenders — John O’Shea, Younes Kaboul when he was here, they’d say, ‘We’ll get the clean sheets because we know you’ll score.’ And that’s it. Be solid, keep the clean sheets, give ourselves a chance to win the game.
“And I’ll say to the boys, ‘Just keep a clean sheet and if I get a chance, then I believe we will win.’ As a forward, you just have to remain positive. Got to believe you are going to score goals if you get the opportunity.”
Defoe says coach Moyes needs a bit of patience.
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He added: “It takes time for a manager to build. You can’t just come into a football club and it clicks overnight.
“Hopefully the manager will get time. It’s been a difficult time, but if we have this conversation in a couple of months, we’ll have a couple of wins and things will be different.”
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JERMAIN MAN — DEFOE’S PREM STATS WITH SUNDERLAND
Appearances
57
Starts
52
Minutes played
4630
Goals
23
Minutes per goal
201.3
Shots on target
61
Shots off target
37
Shooting accuracy %
62.24
Assists
1
Chances created
36
Fouls won
61
Offside
62
Yellow cards
4