It was cup final day, with local rivals Sunderland and Darlington hoping to take the honours and lift the Durham Challenge Cup.
Two of the stronger clubs in the county, the pair had history in this particular competition
and had been regular opponents over the years, with the most recent clash ending in a convincing win for the Lads and making them favourites to win the competition for a fourth time.In November, a Newcastle Road friendly had ended 7-0 to the hosts with Johnny Campbell (2), John Breconridge
(2), Will Gibson and Jock Smith (two) getting the goals. Since then, they’d progressed in the cup with wins over Birtley and Darlington St. Augustine’s after their scheduled opponents in the first round, St. Wilfrid’s of Bishop Auckland, had scratched.
The match was to take place at the Victoria Grounds in Stockton, which had been picked by the Durham FA because it was relatively equidistant between the two clubs, easy to reach via train and relatively well-appointed in terms of facilities.
Sunderland’s party left from the Central Railway Station shortly before 14:00, on a saloon carriage attached to a heavily crowded excursion train. Upon arrival in Stockton, they found the high street to be “busy and bustling” due to the large number of expectant supporters that had descended upon the Teesside borough from “every part of the County”.
That was according to the Sunderland Daily Echo And Shipping Gazette, who also advised that amongst those on the team carriage were members of the committee and both Jock Scott and John Stevenson — two members of the squad that were forced to miss out on the playing but were happy still to support their colleagues.
Scott, who’d arrived earlier in the season from Scotland, was ineligible as he’d already appeared in the Lanarkshire Cup before coming to Wearside, but for Stevenson, things were a little more complicated.
The right half had been a regular during the campaign but in February decided to leave the area in what was seen by many fans as a shock move. However, reports at the time inferred that internally, this had been anticipated for a while — perhaps due to the player falling out of love with the game — and that he was expected to become a ‘Boniface’ in the hospitality industry.
One source suggested even that there had been a falling out with certain Sunderland representatives, but whatever the exact details were, the switch hadn’t worked out and Stevenson made a swift return “from his wanderings and become reconciled to his old comrades”. Welcomed back gladly, he’d already been informed by Sunderland officials that he would be considered for selection again in the near future.
Entering the pitch to the “most cordial greeting”, it appeared that Sunderland had the majority of the support on their side — both in the form of travelling Lads fans plus a fair smattering of neutrals that had heard of their prowess (just six defeats out of thirty six games played so far that season and no goals conceded in over a month) — and weren’t simply keen to see the side for themselves, but held a certain amount of disregard for the Quakers, with whom Stockton had a fractious relationship.
Darlington followers, whilst comparatively low on numbers, “made up by lung power” and contributed towards an excitable atmosphere at the point of the 16:00 kick off.
Bright sunshine gave way to continual showers shortly after the start and as the action progressed, the conditions would become an issue.
Skipper John Auld had won the toss for Sunderland and decided they would defend the Oxbridge Lane goal in the first half — and within ten minutes, they held an advantage thanks to a quickly-taken shot from Johnny Campbell. Northern League Darlington weren’t as easily brushed aside this time however, and both McCrimmond and Withington drew praise from the stands for their performances.
At times, play was “of the slapdash order’ as the teams entered into a scrap, and once the second half — which commenced at 16:55 — was in full swing, physicality had taken precedence over any sort of tactical contest.
Tom Porteous was forced off the field for a period whilst he received treatment following a kick from a ‘Darlingtonian’ and whilst he was able to see out the match once patched up, he was clearly in some pain.
His efforts saw him singled out in subsequent match reports at least, yet his balance allowed him to remain on his feet as others started to struggle on the now-slippery playing surface. At one point, “much amusement was caused by the spectacle of several of them down at once, kicking spasmodically in the air like turtles which had been turned on their backs”.
Accurate finishing was made difficult by the soft ground and whilst both teams saw efforts hit the woodwork, it wasn’t until the final fifteen minutes that another goal came, with Tom Watson seeing his charges secure the silverware through Jock Smith’s low attempt into the net.
In some quarters, Sunderland might’ve been expected to have won by a greater margin, yet they’d been kept honest by Darlington and were thrilled to be taking a cup back home, having seen rivals Sunderland Albion win it the year before.
As for individual keepsakes, only the winning side received medals due to the Durham FA opting not to grant a set to the runners-up as a cost saving measure — a situation that prompted some of the Darlington squad to meet beforehand and consider whether they wanted to boycott the final.
It was another busy day for Sunderland’s teams, with Football Alliance club Albion losing 2-0 in an away friendly at Notts County.
The party had departed from the Central Railway Station several hours before their ‘North Side combination’ neighbours Sunderland were due to set off for Stockton and were without their captain John Stewart, who was absent due to a family illness.
Earlier in the season, Albion had been denied the chance to defend their Durham Challenge Cup following a decision by the Council of the English Football Association to suspend them for playing ‘unqualified men’ in an FA Cup tie against Bootle.
Banned from playing in any competition for a fortnight, it meant they had to forfeit their February Challenge Cup fixture with Bishop Auckland, who were initially invited by the Durham FA to postpone the game but opted not to “in anyway run counter to the English Council”.
Albion representatives CS Craven and secretary Stephen Coates had both travelled to London to plead their club’s case with the Council, but were unsuccessful — and the same sitting had also seen Sunderland AFC’s John Oliver cautioned for playing for Southwick in a “scratch match”.
With the two senior sides out of town, those staying at home and in need of a football fix had to make do with reserve team action.
Local pride was at stake again, with around 3,000 in attendance at Newcastle Road to see Sunderland’s second string beat Whitburn 2-0, whilst another 1,000 spectators had gathered at Hendon to witness Albion’s reserves take Southwick apart 5-0.
Saturday 22 March 1890
Durham Challenge Cup Final
Victoria Grounds, Stockton
Attendance: c.10,000
Darlington 0
Sunderland 2 (Campbell 10’, Smith 75’)
Sunderland: Kirkley, Porteous, Oliver; Ford, Auld, Gibson; Harvie, Smith, Campbell; Hannah, Breconridge
*Sunderland goalkeeper Bill Kirkley was referred to as ‘Kirtley’ in articles relating to this final, as was the case for most of his career.
In addition, John Harvie usually asked the press to spell his name as ‘Harvey’.
