They had one of the division’s best keepers in Joe Corrigan, some exciting young talent in Ray Ranson, Paul Power, Nicky Reid and Dave Bennett (Gary Bennett’s brother), as well as experienced skilled operators in Tommy Booth, Tommy Hutchison and Gerry Gow.
John Bond had also staked his reputation on a young exciting forward called Kevin Reeves. This lad had caught my eye playing for Bournemouth in the mid-seventies and I had thought Sunderland could do worse than have a look at him. Bond bought him to
Norwich for £50,000 in 1977 and then made him the Canaries first £1million sale, when he bought him to City for £1.25 million in 1980. We were not able to compete with that kind of money at this time, Reeves had recently made his full international mark with England and he would be one of the danger men that our defence was going to have to be extremely wary of for this game, (sadly he would have to retire from top-flight football in less than five years after this match due to a hip injury).
As I watched City go through their warm-up, I could barely take my eyes off one of our very own playing legends, Dennis Tueart. He was making an emotional return to Roker Park and had been out with a troublesome injury but was on the comeback trail. I had seen him play for our youth team in 1967 and saw his debut on Boxing Day 1968, where he joined Colin Suggett and Todd, Billy Hughes, Ian Porterfield and Bobby Kerr, to really make my Christmas that season. He was one of the most exciting wingers I had seen play for my team, rapid, two-footed and with mesmerising close control, it seemed only yesterday that he had our colours on and whilst it was great to see him back on our turf, I was really hoping he was going to need a few games to hit the ground flying!
Ken Knighton had not been impressed with our performance at Roker Park in the 0-0 draw with Stoke City. Having made a reasonable start to our return to the top-flight we were heading in the wrong direction down the table. Sam Allardyce was dropped in favour of young Rob Hindmarch, a central defender I thought had huge potential, he would partner one of our very reliable performers, Shaun Elliott in the heart of our defence. Alan Brown paid for a very quiet previous game and was also dropped, Pop Robson coming in off the bench to work alongside youngster John Cooke, who retained his place in the forward line.
The enigmatic Claudio Marangoni was brought onto the subs bench. The Argentinian had not convinced everyone at Roker that the record fee we had paid the previous season was justified. I found him a perplexing watch, but was convinced we/Knighton had not quite got the best out of him (and argued his case to any that would listen). I had seen him score a goal at Fulham just after Christmas the previous season, that had stunned me with its skill, as well as the ease with which he had executed the shot. I was pleased to see him back in the frame, we might need a bit of something different to beat these “City slickers”.
The game kicked off with well over 20,000 in the ground and a reasonably boisterous atmosphere under the lights, given our recent form. City were first to show and alarmingly it was Tueart who seemed to be at the heart of everything they were up to. There was a zip and confidence about City’s play as Tueart and the impressive Paul Power created a shot from full-back Bobby McDonald that Chris Turner did well to push around the post. Tueart then figured twice in quick succession. He engineered a bit of space for himself to shoot just wide and then Joe Bolton blocked a thunderous drive from him, only to see the deflection headed just wide by Kevin Reeves. This block looked like a stonewall penalty to me as Bolton appeared to play the ball with his hand, but the referee seemed not to have seen it. This was not the start we needed and there was audible anxiety coming from the crowd.
Reeves and Power then exchanged sharp passes that saw Reeves heading dangerously for goal. Mick Buckley got in a timely interception, this would not be his first of this game, he was excellent on the night. Dennis Tueart’s night lasted seventeen minutes with a re-emergence of his injury. I was sorry to see him limp away but pleased we would not have to worry about him causing us trouble. Dave Bennett came on (and showed us how much trouble he could be)! It took over twenty minutes for Sunderland to register a meaningful attack but when it did come, it almost broke the deadlock. A Stan Cummins corner was touched on by Hindmarch and Pop Robson sprang to place a diving header goal-bound. Ray Ranson just got a toe to the strike, clearing it off the line. The crowd roared their encouragement and as often happens, the momentum of the game swung in our favour.
Shortly after the diving header, Buckley won the ball and played a slick pass to Pop Robson, his accurate shot on the run saw Corrigan at full stretch to keep the ball out of the net. We then saw a searing run and strike from John Cooke, the eighteen-year-old’s shot went just over the bar. Dave Bennett flicked cleverly onto Reeves in the box, but Elliott slid quickly in to play the ball back to Turner.
Steve Whitworth then found Robson with a good pass, Pop turned on a sixpence and flashed a powerful strike from just inside the box, the ball flew straight at Corrigan and he grabbed it gratefully. One of my favourite all-time players then made his mark on the game. Kevin Arnott brought an awkward ball under control and in one easy movement pinged a lovely pass to Cooke on the edge of the box in space. Spotting Corrigan off his line, the youngster’s delicate chip looked like a goal from the moment it left his foot but it crashed off the bar to safety, it was a beautiful passage of play nonetheless. Sunderland had the edge in a good-going game heading into half-time.
Early into the second half the Lads were forced into a change. Shaun Elliott was unable to continue and Marangoni came on. It was gutting to see Elliott limp off, he would miss the Everton game the following Saturday and the midweek England B game against Australia. Marangoni went to central midfield and Arnott moved to right-back to allow Whitworth to play behind Hindmarch in the centre of defence. It is easy to be wise in hindsight, but this could have been a sliding-doors moment in Marangoni’s Sunderland career, if only Ken Knighton had played him alongside Hindmarch in the centre of defence. Instead this would prove to be Marangoni’s last appearance for us and he returned to Argentina shortly afterwards to make his name as one of the best half-backs in South America over the next decade, we had been playing him in the wrong position!
The enforced change did not change the pattern of this good contest. On fifty-four minutes a sustained period of Sunderland pressure had led to a corner. Tommy Booth headed clear only for Arnott to advance on the ball from his defensive position and from outside the box strike a powerfully accurate right-foot drive that Corrigan got a hand to at full stretch but could not prevent from billowing the net. What a superb strike this was and acclaimed from all four corners of Roker Park. The game see-sawed back and forth as both teams went for it in entertaining fashion.
On eighty minutes Joe Bolton went on one of his bullocking runs down the left wing before fizzing in a cross that found Cooke advancing into the box. The youngster took a neat touch on the run and then half-volleyed the ball into the roof of the net for his first goal of the season. City still came forward and might have scored from a great chance for Reeves and a Booth header that the excellent Buckley cleared off the line. We saw the game out to register our first double of the campaign, having beaten City four-nil right at the start of the season. Hindmarch, Bolton, Cooke and Arnott all played well, but man of the match was Mick Buckley with an all-action performance in the midfield engine room.
The victory did not move us up the table and augured well moving forwards in that we had played very well against a good team that had arrived in good form.
Shaun Elliott’s injury allowed Allardyce to come back into the centre of defence for the next game, but Rob Hindmarch had played so well he kept his place for the remainder of the season. I had hoped that the result and performance would spur us on, but this did not happen, we sustained four losses on the bounce, without being hammered by anybody and being in all bar one of these games right up to the finish. It was mid-December before another victory (against Arsenal) and our survival went to the last game of the season, by which time Ken Knighton had been sacked and Mick Docherty was caretaker manager. Nonetheless this game against Man City stands out for a number of reasons, including Arnott’s sweet strike that I can still see in my mind’s eye with glorious ease and Cooke’s half-volley, both worth the entrance fee!
Division One Date – 12.11.1980 | Venue – Roker Park | Attendance – 23,387
Sunderland 2 – 0 Man City (Goalscorers – Arnott 54 mins & Cooke 80 mins)
Sunderland – Turner; Whitworth; Bolton; Elliott (Marangoni 49 mins); Hindmarch; Cummins; Buckley; Arnott; Rowell; Cooke; Robson
Man City – Corrigan; Ranson; McDonald; Booth; Reid; Power; Gow; McKenzie; Hutchinson; Reeves; Tueart (Bennett 17 mins)
