Sunderland goalscorer Luke O’Nien hit the opener against Charlton in the first minutes for Jack Ross’ side.
The Black Cats drew 1-1 with Charlton Athletic on Saturday, with O’Nien getting Sunderland off to the perfect start.
The summer signing latched on to a cross at the far post to fire Sunderland into the lead in just the second minute of the match.
And O’Nien admits that Flanagan may not have been best pleased with him, had he not converted Reece James’ cross.
He said: “Playing at right-back you can see the game unfolding and I saw a bit of space.
“I had Tom calling me back so I was half-thinking, ‘What do I do? I want to get up there!’ Jamo put in a great ball and with a ball like that you have to finish it nicely for him. It was nice to get the boys off to a good start.
“As a defender Tom would always want the reassurance of being next to him, which I understand, but equally if I put the ball in the back of the net we don’t have to run back for a couple of minutes because we’re celebrating.”
O’Nien has forced his way into Sunderland’s starting line-up recently, despite playing in a position which he is not the most familiar with.
The former Wycombe Wanderers man was brought in as a central midfielder, but his best performances have come at right-back.
Sunderland still remain in a strong position to push for promotion, despite their failure to beat Charlton.
Ross’ side are currently in third place in the League One table, but they do have games in hand over their nearest rivals.
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