Sunderland kicked off their third season in league football as reigning champions, having won the Football League title for the first time at just the second attempt in 1890-91, with Johnny Campbell scoring 31 in just 24 league games, Jimmy Hannah weighing in with 17 league goals, and Jimmy Millar with 15 in the league, too.
The defence of the title for Tom Watson’s team had begun in style with a 6-0 win away at Accrington’s Thorneyholme Road ground; Johnny Campbell continuing his fine form from the season
before with a hattrick.
The previous season, Sunderland had a perfect home record at Newcastle Road, winning all 13 games – so it came as something of a shock to the crowd of around 6000, as well as the players, management and press, that Sunderland’s first home game as reigning champions ended in a 2-2 draw to a Notts County side who’d finished mid table the season before, and had lost 10 of 13 on their travels in the process; including a 4-0 Newcastle Road reversal.
The day before the game, the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette described the contest as an important league fixture, and one that Sunderland would need to be wary of, given Villa’s splendid form. The Sunderland team had left Central by the 1.30pm train, and would arrive in Birmingham at 8pm, although the team was ‘weakened by accidents’.
Sunderland and Villa were two of the country’s top teams, and had met three times the previous season, including an FA Cup Semi Final at Bramall Lane, when Sunderland went down 4-1 in front of 30,000.
Indeed, absent from the team that lined up at Wellington Road, Perry Bar in front of around 12,000 were John Scott and Jimmy Millar, who between then had scored 26 goals the previous campaign. John Harvey came into the team at inside right, and James Gillespie playing on his outside. With Johnny Campbell through the middle the forward line was completed by Davy Hannah inside left and Jimmy Hannah left wing. Ned Doig kept goal, protected by Porteous, Smellie, Wilson, Auld and Gibson.
It was a fine afternoon, and Sunderland won the toss, opting to play down the slope – but it was the hosts who threatened first; Lewis Campbell, the Villa striker, hitting the post.
However, after just five minutes Sunderland had the lead, and it was reported to be one of the best goals ever witnessed at Perry Barr. A clearance from Villa’s John Ramsey was met by Sunderland’s Hughie Wilson, who fired the ball home with ‘a beautiful shot’.
Two minutes later, it was 2-0 – the prolific Johnny Campbell notching once more.
It was an end-to-end game, with Auld and Poeteous getting vital blocks in to prevent Villa pulling one back, while Sunderland had the ball in the net again, although Jimmy Hannah’s corner was deemed to have gone straight and rightly disallowed: in those days all corners and free kicks were indirect.
Sunderland’s disappointment didn’t last, however, and soon it was officially 3-0. Johnny Campbell raced away from the Villa defence and hit a brilliant shot from range to beat Dunning in the goal. And shortly after Dunning was called into action once more, narrowly taking the ball away from Davy Hannah, and then saving the follow up well.
The hosts posed a threat too and hit the bar on one occasion, but found the Sunderland defence in fine form, and before half time Sunderland could have added to the score with Hannah firing wide and Campbell forcing another save from Dunning.
The second half saw Sunderland kicking uphill, into the sun and having to contend with a breeze, too – however, the reigning champions were still on the attack, and forced Dunning into yet another good save after John Harvey’s ball into the box created some danger.
Villa, buoyed by a crowd reinvigorated by the half time break, went in search of a goal to get back into the game, and struck the first blow of the second half; Denny Hodgets scoring from an Athersmith corner.
However, if that was a blow, Sunderland responded with a couple of quick fire jabs of their own to put the game completely out of Villa’s reach – first Jimmy Hannah and then Harvey scoring for the away team.
From there on in, Sunderland were in complete control, and rarely let Villa get anywhere near enough to threaten the goal – on the one occasion they did, Doig made a smart save from Devey.
Davy Hannah won the applause of the clearly sporting home crowd after a great run upfield that was only just thwarted by Cowan, but it was Jimmy Hannah who added the sixth and final goal, as proceeding drew to a close.
The reigning league champions had brushed off the disappointment of dropping a point the previous week with a comprehensive win over their big rivals – and set the wheels in motion for another very good season indeed.
