This would prove to be Sunderland’s biggest win of the season as Sunderland battered their Black Country rivals with goals and performances all over the pitch.
The Sunday Sun reported in its Christmas Day
edition that Sunderland’s left-hand side (Harry Martin and debutant Hawes) gave a sparkling display, with Mitton shining by virtue of his “wonderful dash and opportunism” as he helped himself to a hat-trick.
Jack Mitton had been converted from a centre-half into a centre-forward by manager Bob Kyle, and by the end of this game would be on six goals in the last four games.
Many fans had been floored by the predicted long-term absence of popular inside-forward Bobby Marshall. The purchase of Arthur “Tricky” Hawes from Second Division (and near-neighbours) South Shields for a good sum of £1,750 had come as something of a surprise. Whilst Hawes had been top scorer in the 1920/21 season with seventeen goals, he had only netted once in fourteen appearances for the Mariners in this season.
Some of the doubters coming into this match may have felt differently by the end of the game. Tricky delivered as good a debut as many fans had seen in a long time. His passing, in particular with his left-wing partner Harry Martin, was superb, and his footwork on the ball a joy to behold.
Hawes scored on twenty-three minutes as he mastered the treacherous pitch to deliver some slick dribbling and a blistering shot just inside the box to open the scoring for Sunderland.
That there was no more scoring before half-time and West Brom were somehow still in the game had more to do with over-elaboration and difficulty managing the rock-hard icy conditions on the home team’s part than anything the visitors were doing.
The second half was a different story. Sunderland to a man managed the conditions much better, and as the left-hand side of the attack in particular got going, the Baggies had no answer. Hawes gave his marker Sammy Richardson a torrid afternoon as Martin and Mitton followed suit.
After a good passage of passing Mitton scored on forty-seven minutes and then again ten minutes later. Hawes got his second goal and Sunderland’s fourth to cap a brilliant display. Mitton completed the scoring on seventy-two minutes to leave West Brom easily second-best on the day and him with a hat-trick.
Sunderland were good value for their win and might have scored more.
The Lads moved up to third in the table after this victory, but their title challenge would falter by the end of the season and they would finish twelfth with West Brom finishing just below them in the table.
Tricky Hawes went on to play twenty-three games and scored five goals in the 1921/22 season. His partnership with Harry Martin continued to flourish, though England international Martin did miss eleven games in the run-in to this season.
The following season Tricky scored twelve goals and was a regular in a forward line that featured Charlie Buchan (30 goals) and Jock Paterson (21 goals) as the Lads finished second behind Liverpool.
The following two seasons Hawes continued to play regularly as Sunderland finished third in 1923/24 and seventh in 1924/25. He contributed eleven goals in each of these seasons and was something of a fan favourite by this point in his career with the Lads.
In the 1925/26 season Sunderland bought Bob Kelly from Burnley and Dave Halliday from Dundee (this season would also herald the start of Bobby Gurney’s career). Tricky found game-time hard to come by and only appeared six times in each of the next two seasons (1925/26 and 1926/27), scoring no goals. Sunderland finished third in each of these seasons as they made a reasonable stab at winning the title again.
With limited game time Arthur Hawes decided to move on after 147 appearances and 39 goals between December 1921 and May 1927.
Bradford Park Avenue paid £650 for his services and he played 52 games over two seasons scoring 17 goals. From July 1929 he spent a season each with Accrington Stanley, Nelson, and Rochdale before finishing his playing career aged thirty-eight, having played 321 games and scored 86 goals.
Throughout his playing career Tricky carried a white handkerchief in his left hand every time he played. It was an odd quirk, the reasons for which have been lost in the passage of time.
There is no doubt that Tricky gave particularly good service to Sunderland in his time with the club – an unselfish goal-scorer and creator who was a real fan favourite at Roker Park.
Division One
Date – 24.12.1921
Venue – Roker Park
Attendance – 10,552
Sunderland 5 – 0 West Brom
Goal-scorers – Hawes 23 & 60 mins; Mitton 47, 57, & 72 mins.
Sunderland – Jimmy Dempster; Bert Hobson; Bob Young; Charles Parker; Joe Kasher; John Poole; Jimmy Stephenson; Charlie Buchan; Jack Mitton; Arthur Hawes; Harry Martin.
West Brom – Hubert Pearson; Joe Smith; Jess Pennington; Sammy Richardson; Sid Bowser; Bobby McNeal; Tommy McGee; Jonathan Blagdon; Steve Davies; Fred Morris; Howard Gregory.
