On This Day (28th Jan 1981): New Man Debuts As Sunderland Beat Manchester United!

Sunderland came into this game in sixteenth position in the league and in need of points against Dave Sexton’s evolving Red Devils.

United had been knocked out of the FA Cup by Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest the previous Saturday and arrived looking to make a quick recovery.

Sunderland had sought some relief in the cup from their relentless battle to stay in the first division and had taken Birmingham City to a deserved third-round replay at Roker Park earlier in the month. On a night that saw the majestic Colin Todd return, City had won the tie in extra-time with future Sunderland players Keith Bertschin and Frank Worthington also playing prominent roles in the game.

Some comfort was gained in the three-goal league victory against Norwich at Roker Park that followed our cup exit, but the Lads had not won two successive games at home all season and to do so against Man United seemed a tall order given results and form thus far!

United were a hard team to beat that season and had bolstered their attack with the million-pound signing of forward Gary Birtles from Nottingham Forest to play alongside the feared and potent Joe Jordan.

Sunderland came into this game with the new £250,000 signing of Ian Bowyer (also from Nottingham Forest). This lad had been a key player in Forest’s midfield and I (like many other Sunderland fans at the time) was excited by his capture and looking forward to him anchoring our midfield as he had done at Forest.

With a boisterous and noisy 30,000-plus crowd braving a cold and mizzling January night, both teams served up a hard-running, cracking contest to warm the majority of us as we set away home two hours later.

The game kicked off at a cracking pace with both teams at it from the first whistle.

In the first five minutes Birtles should have opened the scoring for United after a good passage of interplay found him four yards out and with just keeper Chris Turner to beat.

Turner though was right on his game this night and made the first of a number of top-draw saves, blocking the attempt magnificently.

He was at it again two minutes later when the dangerous Steve Coppell whipped a low cross into the area. Turner collided heavily with Mickey Thomas to dull down his attempt, but the ball was rolling toward the goal when Steve Whitworth coolly arrived and played the ball out from the goal line. Turner was facially heavily bruised in that collision but just carried on after a quick dab of the magic sponge!

Then a well-made chance for Sunderland from Stan Cummins in irresistible fettle: he beat his marker and flicked a pass to Bowyer on the edge of the box. With his back to goal receiving the ball, the debutant turned on a ‘tanner’ and fired a snap-shot that Bailey did really well to save.

Shortly after this on twenty-four minutes, Sunderland took the lead.

It was Bowyer who started the move with a marvellously swept ball to Joe Bolton, rampaging down his wing. Running at pace, Joe fired in a cross that Gordon Chisholm controlled on his chest and swivelled to fire low past Bailey into the corner of the goal from approximately eighteen yards out. It was a fine goal and it was celebrated with gusto by the Roker crowd.

The game continued end to end with Joe Bolton clearing off the line after Birtles had chipped a stranded Turner and then Lou Macari blasted a shot just by the post.

Coming into half-time, Joe Jordan committed a horrendous foul on Gary Rowell. The big Scot was a fiery customer but had hardly had a sniff from the hard-tackling Shaun Elliott and Rob Hindmarch. The tackle on Rowell seemed petulant and Jordan had form. The referee played the advantage though and play was swept upfield toward the Manchester United goal and Kevin Arnott. He fired in an awkward cross that full-back (and future Sunderland player) Jimmy Nicholl appeared to handle. Though the whole of the United team protested for what seemed like minutes, the referee awarded a penalty.

Gary Rowell had been the club’s nominated penalty taker in 1977/78 season. He had though missed quite a bit of the 1979/80 promotion season with injury and Pop Robson had taken over the duties. In this season John Hawley had taken over the duties at the start of the season and whilst he had scored two in successive matches at the very start of the season, he had crucially seen his last effort saved by future Sunderland goalkeeper Tony Coton making his debut for Birmingham City in the recent league match at St Andrews.

Despite his recent miss and Rowell being on the pitch (though somewhat incapacitated at this point due to the Joe Jordan “assault”) Hawley stepped up and struck a very tame effort that Gary Bailey saved easily.

I was pleased that the referee had played on after Jordan’s foul on Rowell, but mightily upset that he had not gone back after the play had concluded and meted out some punishment for the tackle. My view was that in most games that level of assault would have led to a sending-off and I could not help but feel that all the protest from the Man United players about the penalty award had been orchestrated to distract the referee from sending Jordan off. If not deliberate, it is a fact it did distract him and no punishment was levelled.

Would we rue this missed opportunity in the second half I wondered, as the teams trooped off to good applause. The miss could not take away from a really good first-half performance and if we could maintain our levels we could earn the victory was my conclusion as I headed to the salubrious toilets at the back of the Fulwell End and a cup of lukewarm Bovril from the tea hut that I always thought was a tad too close to the “salubrious toilets” for my liking!

The second half started where the first half had finished, with the Lads pressing the United goal.

Kevin Arnott had a shot well saved and then Stan Cummins, who was at his mesmerising best in this game, totally beat his marker Arthur Albiston before slaloming into the penalty area and laying off a square pass to Arnott. The silky maestro chose to place his attempt, side-footing the ball goal-bound but with not enough power to beat Bailey. It had been an encouraging start, but we were soon on the defensive.

After a good passage of play from United, Gary Birtles found himself in an excellent position just inside our box and it took a very timely block from Bowyer to prevent the shot. Having blocked the attempt, the debutant followed up with an excellent pass to Cummins who sprinted clear down the right wing only to be cynically pulled down by Martin Buchan, who was booked by referee Arnold Challinor.

Alan Brown was sent on in place of the visibly tiring John Hawley and the resultant free-kick produced a brilliant piece of skill from Stan Cummins, as he controlled the ball in an instant and cracked a fizzing shot just past the post that had us surging in the Fulwell End.

Just after this Rob Hindmarch was booked for a pretty obvious foul on Joe Jordan. They had fought a physical battle all the way through the game and Jordan was a noted bullying-type centre-forward but the only kicks he had in this game were probably from our young centre-back who was no slouch in a battle!

Then in seventy-five minutes came United’s best chance. A dangerous cross found Mickey Thomas unmarked and six yards out; he lashed the ball wide of Chris Turner and the post much to the relief of the vast majority in Roker Park.

It was end-to-end football as the Red Devils pushed for an equaliser, leaving gaps at the back that we almost exploited on more than one occasion in this last phase of the game.

There was a huge collective gasp around the stadium as Gary Birtles fired a goal-bound shot that Turner just tipped over and then three times in as many minutes we almost put the game beyond United. First it was a blistering shot from Gordon Chisholm from just outside the box that just cleared the bar. Then Cummins continued his personal crusade to win the game, pinging a first-time shot that Bailey just managed to hold and then a shot on the turn that just cleared the post. It was a breathtaking finale but it wasn’t finished yet!

Coming into the last minute of the game, with the visitors pressing, Ian Bowyer set Joe Bolton away down his wing. I loved to see Joe on the charge; he was like the proverbial express train! Unlike some full-backs, Joe could deliver a good cross or pass in full flight. He also could cut in and shoot with his right foot and caught a few defences out with that skill over the seasons with us. On this occasion he made a dart for the box and was through on goal when Gary Bailey came charging out and clattered into him. Once again the referee pointed to the penalty spot, with little complaint this time from the United players.

With Hawley off the pitch, up stepped Gary Rowell. He looked his usual cool, calm, nerveless self as he placed the ball, took a few steps back and smoothly placed his kick past a bemused Bailey. There always seemed to be an inevitability about a Rowell penalty; he was in many respects like an Ashes/Aussie fast bowler, same run-up, but heavily disguised release that sends the middle stump cartwheeling!

What a finish to a cracking game this was; the goal and victory was cheered to the rafters. There was a sense of relief, but also this victory was thoroughly deserved and maybe… just maybe the promise that we had shown in all too brief spells this season was now going to be realised?

Come the end of this season, Man United finished in eighth position and Sunderland finished a disappointing seventeenth in the top tier.

We had won two home league games in succession for the first time this season, whilst Ken Knighton had words of praise for the support; he bemoaned a deepening injury crisis, with Chris Turner, Gary Rowell and Rob Hindmarch all probably unavailable for our next league game.

There was some excitement the next day, as it was widely reported in the national and local press that the Bristol City centre-forward Tom Ritchie had been signed for £250,000.

Best for Sunderland in this game was Stan Cummins, closely followed by Chris Turner and Ian Bowyer, though in truth this had been a fantastic team performance.

Division One

Date – 28.01.1981

Venue – Roker Park

Attendance – 31,910

Sunderland 2 – 0 Manchester United

Goalscorers – Chisholm 24 mins; Rowell penalty 89 mins.

Sunderland – Turner; Whitworth; Bolton; Hindmarch; Elliott; Bowyer; Arnott; Chisholm; Rowell; Cummins; Hawley (Brown 71 mins).Man Utd – Bailey; Nicholl; Buchan; McQueen; Albiston; Duxbury; Coppell; Macari; Thomas; Birtles; Jordan. Sub – Ray Wilkins.