The 2009-10 campaign, under new manager Steve Bruce, was a season of consolidation for Sunderland as The Black Cats finished 13th in the Premier League, successfully improving their position. Leading the charge was the club-record signing Darren Bent, whose phenomenal 24 league goals accounted for exactly half the team's total and earned him Player of the Season. It remains a defining chapter in the club's modern history, most famously for Bent's bizarre 'beach ball' goal that defeated Liverpool and the emergence of young star Jordan Henderson.