After leaving Wigan’s Springfield Park frustrated after a controversial refereeing decision had denied his team all three points – which came off the back of a controversial referring decision denying his team all three points at home to Blackpool the weekend before – Denis Smith’s regard for the footballing authorities wasn’t at its highest level.
Those four denied points had left Sunderland in second place in the table, and In the week leading up to a top-of-the-table clash at Roker Park against
Notts County, the Football League once again provoked Smith’s ire, with the news that Gordon Armstrong would now serve a suspension after his booking against Blackpool had taken him over the disciplinary points threshold, and fellow midfielder Steve Doyle had had his ban for a sending off at Preston a month earlier extended by a couple of games.
Doyle, to be fair, had threatened to ‘stamp on the face’ of North End striker Nigel Jemson, but Smith – still fuming after a run of poor refereeing decisions had cost his team – wasn’t at all happy.
Steve Doyle has been punished enough already. He has missed two games, been fined by the club and cannot get his place back in the Sunderland first team – all for being sent off for something done in the heat of the moment.
Let’s face it, he didn’t come in with a tackle that would have broken a leg and there are players getting away with that every week.
We had an example of that against Gary Owers on Saturday. He was subjected to a diving two-footed tackle that, if he hadn’t been so nimble in getting out of the way, would have broken one of his legs.
The referee didn’t even take the offender’s name – yet that was far worse than Doyle’s offence.
While suspensions didn’t occur immediately in those days, and Doyle was available for selection for the game against Notts County, Smith viewed appealing the ban as pointless.
We are dealing with an organisation outside normal democracy. It’s like a private club, where the members have to abide by whatever rules are made. And they have not a lot of flexibility.
This ban has been imposed by people who weren’t at the game, people only acting on the referee’s report. Steve has been treated very harshly.
Another cause for frustration for Smith as he looked to arrest a slump in form that had seen Sunderland win just two in their last eight was a seemingly never-ending transfer saga. The manager had wanted John Byrne from QPR all season, and finally a fee and personal terms had been agreed – but Byrne couldn’t yet agree a settlement figure with QPR after signing a new, lucrative four-year deal in the summer, so all parties were stuck in limbo as transfer deadline approached.
As Notts County made their way north Smith was struck by another blow, with Gary Owers confined to bed with the flu, and Gary Bennett absent from training with an injury too – the manager admitting he didn’t know who would be available, and even what sort of formation he would employ, having recently gone to a sweeper system with Frank Gray operating behind MacPhail and Bennett.
As it was, Owers and Bennett were declared fit, and Smith reverted to a 4-4-2 in front of what was, to date, the second highest crowd of the season – 24,071.
Among the crowd that day was Dave Watson – the 41-year-old Sunderland legend had of course started his playing career with the magpies, and ended his league career there too, playing 25 games in 1984/85, before finishing his playing career in non-league the following season with Kettering.
As an impressionable youngster clinging onto his until-then empty autograph book outside the Main Stand before the game, I was encouraged by my dad to ask Mr Watson for his signature – which, he of course, kindly obliged, and in doing so became the first in what became a chocabloc volume one autograph book over the next season or two. The FA Cup winner was unsurprisingly surrounded by supporters as he made his way into the ground – the 1973 final just 15 years ago, and still fresh in the minds of most, if not me!
As it turned out, Smith could name a strong team with Doyle, Bennett and Owers lining up alongside the likes of Hesford, Kay, Agboola, MacPhail, Lemon and Paul Atkinson – and of course Gates and Gabbiadini.
And, for Smith, it was a third successive game that saw a controversial refereeing decision deny Sunderland all three points. Although, as the second half progressed he had another target in his sights.
The moment of controversy came just after the hour mark. With Sunderland leading one-nil, Notts Country midfielder Gary Mills seemed to handle the ball, an offence that was flagged by the linesman. The Sunderland team, particularly skipper Gary Bennett, stopped in their tracks, expecting the man in the middle to blow.
However, the ref – David Scott from Lancashire – and waved play on. Nott County sub Paul Barnes held off MacPhail, and put the ball past Hesford at the Fulwell End. Play to the whistle? Not on this occasion, it seemed!
Amid furious protests, the referee eventually consulted his linesman; after a chat, Mr Scott decided he was right all along and awarded the goal. Smith, fuming on the sidelines, had to order his players to eventually get on with the game, such was the feeling of injustice.
The equaliser demoralised Sunderland. It was unsurprising, given the decisions that had gone against them in recent weeks, and they lads couldn’t channel their frustration and anger into anything positive – indeed, in the closing stages, it looked like Notts County were more likely to grab the winner.
It could – should – have been so different.
After putting an early golden chance badly wide, Marco put the lads in front after just nine minutes – the exciting youngster slotting the ball home from close range after Owers’ ball from the edge of the box over the defence.
However, as the first half progressed, Gabbiadini missed another three great chances to extend the lead. A chance on the quarter hour was a particularly gilt-edged one, which he should have converted. He wasn’t the only one to come close, though. Gates was denied acrobatically by keeper Mick Leonard, and Gary Bennett had a header cleared off the line.
In the second half, the mood was dampened, and the team visibly let standard slip after Notts County’s equaliser. Gabbiadini was a shadow of his first-half self and cut an increasingly frustrated figure. So much so that Smith, who was getting increasingly angry at Gabbiadini’s second-half display, hauled him off with ten minutes left, to be replaced by John Moore. The nearest either side came to a winner was through Barnes again, who fired narrowly wide from 25 yards in the closing stages.
The fact Smith was so incensed by Gabbiadini – and subbed him in the closing stages with the team in desperate need of a winner – spoke volumes. Gabbiadini’s response was to storm down the tunnel, booting the ‘newly decorated’ tunnel as he went.
I wouldn’t expect him to be pleased at my decision. Perhaps next time he’ll work a bit harder. In the second half he stopped running. When we needed a winner, the spark wasn’t there.
As it was, it was another case of points being dropped, and Notts County maintaining their goal-difference lead at the top of the table.
‘Robbed’ was the headline in that evening’s Sports Echo, however on reflection it was the team who’d maybe robbed themselves, rather than the referee determining the outcome of the game on this occasion.
However, it was another overriding feeling of frustration as the lads dusted themselves down ahead of another tough test in midweek – a trip to Denis Smith’s former club, York City.
