Spurs wily manager Bill Nicholson watched from the Elland Road stands as Sunderland blew Leeds away in a first-half display of skill, pace and power.
With his Spurs side making the journey to Roker Park the following Saturday in the 6th Round of the FA Cup and with the Black Cats having already seen off Arsenal and Liverpool as well as Norwich, Nicholson had plenty to think about if his dream of being the first manager to steer a side to the double of league and FA Cup winners was to materialise.
He would not have known whether to laugh or cry upon hearing the news after the game that Sunderland’s hat-trick hero Ralphy Goodchild (who could have easily scored five let alone three), would probably not be selected for the cup tie if young maestro Willie McPheat had recovered from his ankle injury. The Spurs boss must have wondered how good McPheat was, given Goodchild had a magnificent game and took his three goals with some style.
Both Leeds and Sunderland were hovering just below Liverpool, Ipswich, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United who were jostling for the two promotion spots.
Leeds had beaten Sunderland at Roker Park earlier in the season when two former players — player/coach Don Revie and Colin Grainger (the Singing Winger) — had inspired a two-goal half-time lead that Sunderland could not claw back as they lost a nip-and-tuck game by three goals to two.
Revie was not fit for this game, but Colin Grainger would be playing, alongside future Scotland captain Billy Bremner and future England centre-half Jack Charlton (who would go on to spend his entire playing career with Leeds from 1950-1973).
Sunderland’s results had improved as the season had progressed and the side (especially the defence) became more settled. Injuries in the forward line meant that apart from nineteen-year-old Ralphy Goodchild coming in for his first game of the season for McPheat, eighteen-year-old John Dillon retained his place on the wing for the experienced Jack Overfield, who was still making his way back after injury. The young Scot had made his debut against Middlesbrough in September of this season and had taken his chance in mid-January with Overfield’s injury, getting better game on game to the point of which it was not a foregone conclusion that Overfield would start once fit again!
The game got off to a rip-roaring start (if you were a Sunderland fan). Sunderland ripped Leeds apart in a first half that had the Black Cats positively purring and the Peacocks running around like frantic chickens.
Goodchild might have scored in the very first minute as he missed a ‘sitter’ only a few yards out and with only goalkeeper Humphries to beat.
With Stan Anderson and Jim McNab pulling the strings Sunderland took the lead with a well-worked goal on four minutes. Dillon found Goodchild with an inside pass, he squared it to Ian Lawther whose powerful shot deflected off Charlton on the way into the net.
Two minutes later Lawther charging down the left wing slid a pass to McNab who managed to stab the ball forward to Goodchild as he was tackled. ‘Ralphy’ was on this in a flash and hit an accurate low shot past the despairing dive of Humphries to take a two-goal lead.
It only took four further minutes for Lawther to feed Goodchild racing into the box. His powerful shot cannoned off the post and into the back of the net. Three goals in eight minutes was devastating football, Leeds responded by giving Jack Charlton licence to roam upfield but this only served to create more space for the eager Sunderland forwards.
On twenty-four minutes Leeds did pull a goal back. Colin Nelson was having a right old tussle with Colin Grainger (honours even at the end of this game). Nelson was harshly adjudged to have fouled Grainger just outside the box. The singing winger hit the right note with Leeds fans as he got up to blast the free-kick at goal. His shot hit an outstretched Nelson leg but fell kindly to Smith lurking three yards out, who prodded the ball past Wakeham in the Sunderland goal.
For the next quarter of an hour there was no further scoring, but the Lads created two very good chances that were spurned and Jack Charlton had a powerful header well saved by Wakeham. Had this gone in it could have made the second half quite interesting to say the least. It was Sunderland though who scored just before half-time to put the game almost out of Leeds reach. This goal started with a great pass out of defence from McNab to Lawther. The Belfast-born centre-forward fed the ball on to Goodchild, who speeding forward, beat his marker and slammed the ball past Humphries for a first-half hat-trick.
After such a devastating first half, the second half was a tamer affair. Sunderland with one eye on the big game to come the following weekend contained Leeds to the extent that it was not until the eighty-third minute that a shot was registered on Wakeham’s goal. It was a very good shot from Billy Bremner from twenty yards out and did angle past Wakeham for United’s second goal, but it did not affect the result of this game.
Alf Greenly, writing in the Journal, was full of praise for the team’s performance. Claiming the first-half performance would have demolished better teams than Leeds, who for forty-five minutes were completely outclassed. Stan Anderson and Jim McNab were singled out for the effective manner in which they broke up Leeds attacks and kept feeding their forward line with a good range of long and short passes. There were honourable mentions for Len Ashurst and his total domination of Leeds winger Francis and Colin Nelson’s battle with Colin Grainger. Greenly of course donated much print to the hat-trick hero Ralphy Goodchild, describing him as “the happiest man in the Sunderland party”. Greenly went on to praise the attitude of the team in general and Goodchild in particular who he explained did not expect to be playing in the big cup tie against Spurs the following weekend but had no complaints! In fact, Ralphy anticipated (correctly) that he would be turning out at Barrow in the North Regional League for Sunderland reserves rather than a packed Roker Park against the best team in the top tier!
Sunderland went on to play an historic cup tie against Spurs the following week in front of 61,000 fans. Willie McPheat not only returned from injury for this game, but scored the equaliser that prompted Spurs captain Danny Blanchflower to say “I have never known a crowd atmosphere like the one here at Roker. I could not hear myself think let alone shout instructions. We were very relieved to hear the final whistle and to still be in the competition…..It was almost as if they sucked the ball into the net”.
1960/61 saw Spurs historically do the double that season for the very first time, Bill Nicholson would acknowledge the closest his team came to failing that season was in the cup tie at Roker Park.
Meanwhile on a field far away (in Barrow) Ralphy Goodchild would not know that his hat-trick for Sunderland at Elland Road would be his last game for the Lads. Despite a very healthy 21 goals in 45 appearances he was transferred to Brighton in May 1961. He went on to score 44 goals in 163 games for the Seagulls between May 1961 and June 1966 having helped Albion win promotion from the fourth division. He then returned to the North East spending a season with York (1966/67) and a brief cameo with Darlington in 1967/68.
Sunderland finished the 1960/61 season in sixth position, their challenge fading in the final ten games which saw five defeats and a draw. Leeds faded badly and finished in fourteenth position. Both teams would eventually fight out a titanic struggle for promotion and the second division title in 1963/64.
It seems to have been a case of what might have been for the likable Goodchild who passed away aged seventy-two in 2011. Reflecting on his career in a Northern Echo article in 2005 Ralphy was humble and generous about his career. He acknowledged Willie McPheat as a very good player and emphasised he was “still very proud to have played for Sunderland”.
Division Two (25.02.1961) — Elland Road (15,100)
Leeds United 2 – 4 Sunderland
Goal-scorers – Lawther 4 mins; Goodchild 6, 8 & 40 mins.
Smith 24 mins; Bremner 83 mins.
Leeds – Humphries; Jones; Hair; Cameron; Charlton; Goodwin; Francis; Smith; McCole; Bremner; Grainger.
Sunderland – Wakeham; Nelson; Ashurst; Anderson; Hurley; McNab; Hooper; Fogarty; Lawther; Goodchild; Dillon.
