On 19 April 1976, Sunderland AFC clinched only their second ever promotion, courtesy of a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers.
It was an occasion that some had feared would never come, such was our mediocre league form in the seasons that immediately followed relegation in 1970, but FA Cup success under Bob Stokoe in 1973 brought new hope and whilst there was to be a couple of “so near, yet so far” episodes thereafter, things finally fell into place on the back of a fantastic home record.
Unbeaten at Roker
Park in the league during 1975/1976, one of the quirks of the campaign was that the only two teams able to come away with anything, in the shape of hard-fought 1-1 draws were the two Bristol clubs — Rovers and City.
It was somewhat ironic, therefore, that exactly a year before promotion was confirmed the latter had been the final visitors to Wearside for 1974/1975, a season that gave a good indication that the patience of the supporters was close to being rewarded.
The Lads were in the race throughout but their progress was somewhat hampered by a series of draws.
Goals from Viv Busby that brought a home loss to mid-table Fulham at the end of February — the final league reverse in SR6 for 17 months — were to prove costly but there was still a chance of going up when the Robins arrived for the penultimate fixture.
Going up against the visitors would be Dave Watson and Bobby Kerr — both of whom had been injury doubts in the build-up — plus Rod Belfitt, who was brought into the starting eleven due to Vic Halom suffering from a knee complaint.
Heavy rain earlier in the day meant that a slick surface ideal for passing football greeted the two sides and after losing the toss, Alan Dick’s men were invited to attack the Fulwell End in the first half — yet most of the early action was down at the other end.
Joe Bolton was the first to threaten for Sunderland with a long-range attempt that flew just wide, and he would end the half with an ever better shot to nudge the hosts ahead.
In between those incidents both Pop Robson and Belfitt had chances blocked, whilst City’s best opening led to Ivor Emanuel striking the base of the post. Whereas the ball bounced out to safety that time, Bolton, who’d picked the ball up and driven towards goal from deep, then saw his long-range blast clip the woodwork and go into the net.
Although they’d been comfortable in the first half, Sunderland struggled to build on their advantage after the break. Perhaps feeling a degree of nervousness, they let City in a couple of times with some sloppy defending, and when future Roker arrival Tom Ritchie broke through, it needed some brave goalkeeping from Jimmy Montgomery to keep it at 1-0.
It wasn’t until the final half an hour that Stokoe’s outfit regained some composure, and a brilliant finish from Robson after he had controlled a long ball from Watson helped settle things down.
Although Bolton was booked alongside Gerry Sweeney for his involvement in a flare up on the edge of their area, with about ten minutes left Sunderland were otherwise able to see things out with the minimum of fuss.
Belfitt rounded things off nicely when a Billy Hughes shot was blocked and he climbed up to nod the spinning ball under the bar, but whilst the goal was merely a bonus for the Lads ahead of a crunch trip to Aston Villa in a weeks’ time, it pretty much killed off any lingering City hopes of getting into the First Division.
In the end, a defeat at Villa Park plus results elsewhere meant that Sunderland would have to try again before they were able to climb out of Division Two.
Things were looking promising however, with the squad enjoying a period of stability – only 18 players were used across 1974/1975 and five of them — Hughes, Bobby Kerr, Dick Malone, Bobby Moncur and Robson — were ever-presents.
It gave Stokoe a strong base to work from, and twelve months later, the party was at last able to begin.
Saturday 19 April 1975
Football League Division Two
Roker Park
Attendance: 30,530
Sunderland 3 (Bolton 44’, Robson 64’, Belfitt 88’)
Bristol City 0
Sunderland: Montgomery, Malone, Guthrie; Moncur, Watson, Bolton; Kerr, Hughes, Belfitt; Robson, Towers
Unused: Ashurst
