Sunderland had thumped Sheffield United just three days earlier — amid a barnstorming finish and with a hat-trick from Wilf Rostron — to go top of the division.
Steady nerves and composure were all that was needed to clinch promotion in their last two games but unfortunately, no one told Cardiff City that this was supposed to be a Sunderland carnival as the Lads went down 1-2 at Roker Park, in front of an expectant and biggest crowd of the season of 36,526.
Three days earlier, manager Billy Elliott
had said that they needed to be “locked up if they threw promotion away from this situation” — and throw it away they did.
The Lads were at it right from the start, but it was a high-speed, headless chicken-type of approach that involved launching crosses into the box that were too high for the attackers and meat and drink for City goalkeeper Ron Healey and commanding centre back Phil Dwyer.
It was all too frantic and that was the pattern throughout the game, with Cardiff reduced to a few sporadic attacks, but Sunderland not composed enough at the other end.
I suppose the pressure and the smell of promotion got to the team, and despite being in pole position and having been one of the highest-scoring teams in the league, today (and the season) wasn’t to be.
Their record signing Ronnie Moore had a couple of chances on the break, with Steve Whitworth blocking one, and Barry Siddall tipping another over the bar for their only corner of the half. But on the twenty sixth minute, it was third time lucky as he shrugged off a challenge from Shaun Elliott to move smoothly into the area and beat Siddall from twelve yards.
It was a clinical finish compared to the hectic stuff at the other end and Healey had plenty to do, with ten corners alone in the first half, but he was rarely in real trouble. The Welsh team camped unashamedly on the edge of their own box, frustrating Sunderland and if anything, making them even more frantic.
The pressure could’ve been eased slightly on the fifty ninth minute, when Dwyer brought down Alan Brown in the box.
It seemed like a harsh decision, and maybe it was justice that Rostron’s spot kick was saved by Healey. Wilf had scored two penalties just three days earlier, but it wasn’t to be his day this time. Post-match, he stated that he hadn’t felt any nerves before taking the kick, stating that he thought he’d struck the ball well, but perhaps at a decent height for the keeper to save.
Unfortunately, just a few minutes later, Cardiff won a rare corner that wasn’t cleared well enough, and Ray Bishop fired a crisp shot home from sixteen yards.
Only a minute later however, the Lads were back in it thanks to a tremendous goal from Jackie Ashurst.
Straight from a clearance, the defender turned and struck the ball from twenty five yards, the ball being deflected off their goalkeeper’s hands and bouncing over the line. Cardiff’s players protested that the ball hadn’t actually crossed the line, but the linesman was adamant and the goal stood.
The dream was still alive and Sunderland continued to press and harry the City defence. Elliott came close, beating the offside trap from a free kick, but his header was just wide of the post.
Jeff Clarke came on for the injured Gordon Chisholm, and Ashurst pushed further up the pitch, hitting another long-range shot from thirty yards to leave Healey scrambling, but it was just wide. Rostron also went close, and Brown headed just over in the closing five minutes.
It was helter-skelter stuff, but the Lads ran out of time. Looking at the table in hindsight, a draw would’ve been enough to get us into third spot, so strong was our goal difference, but the title was now out of our hands and we had to rely on other results.
We won the last game of the season away at Wrexham, but it wasn’t enough. We did gain promotion the following season, but a win on this day would actually have seen us become league champions.
28 April 1979
Football League Division Two
Roker Park
Attendance: 36,526
Sunderland 1 (Ashurst)
Cardiff City 2 (Moore, Bishop)
Sunderland: Siddall, Whitworth, Bolton; Docherty, Ashurst, Elliott; Arnott, Rostron, Brown; Chisholm (Clarke), Lee
