1905/1906 was Bob Kyle’s first season as Sunderland secretary — although the directors still called most of the shots and were in charge of picking the side that took on Everton 120 years ago today.
The
selection process was drawn out as long as possible to see if Harold Buckle and Jimmy Watson could overcome ongoing injury concerns, and whilst both were to miss out in the end, the suspension handed out by the board to Billy Hogg a couple of days prior had at least given them an element of early clarity — although other than suggesting his ban was due to internal “misconduct”, the specifics around that development remained shrouded in mystery.
It wasn’t the best of times to deal with a growing list of absences, with poor form dogging the early weeks of Kyle’s tenure and putting serious doubt on the credentials of a man that would in time bring the league title back to the town. As always though, there were short term beneficiaries of these issues, with Norman Brown, David Willis and Ted Bell all coming into the team — the latter doing so to earn his senior debut.
Everton, meanwhile, prepared for the match by spending Friday night at the Grand Hotel, Bridge Street, but they presumably had an early alarm the following morning as whilst kick off had been scheduled for 14:30, the match actually commenced four minutes early. Both teams were obviously eager to get going too, as the opening moments saw a string of chances created at both ends.
It was Everton that converted one of these openings first, with Sandy Young pulling the ball across for Jimmy Settle to tuck away from close range.
However, a leg injury sustained by Jack Sharp meant the visitors were soon temporarily down to ten men, so rather than being able to build on the advantage, the Toffees found themselves coming under the pump instead, with parity soon being restored by the Lads when a move down the left involving Brown and Dennis O’Donnell was rounded off by George Holley with a low shot across the greasy surface.
At half time, the teams elected not to go back to the changing rooms and instead swapped ends and restarted immediately. This certainly suited the hosts, for Sunderland were now in the ascendancy and when Billy Farquhar shot a fraction wide of the target once a corner kick had brought about a scramble, it looked like it would only be a matter of time before another goal arrived.
Sure enough, the Rokerites did force themselves ahead through another scruffy passage of play as Thomas McKenzie capitalised on a sliced clearance to make it 2-1 — albeit the shot trickled over the line after being partially blocked by goalkeeper Billy Scott.
It proved though not only to be the winner, but the Scot’s only goal in Sunderland colours, with his short spell on Wearside emphasising the point that this was a period of transition under Kyle.
Everton did rally once behind and worked hard to try and get back into the game, but hard work in front of him meant that Ike Webb was rarely tested.
If anything, it was actually Sunderland that looked the most likely to score again, with O’Donnell seeing a goalbound effort blocked at the last moment. Like McKenzie, O’Donnell was still fairly new to the side but would ultimately spend only a brief amount of time at the club, whilst debutant Bell also failed to nail down a first team spot over the coming seasons, even though he’d done himself justice in this first outing.
The away side had obviously done their homework as they knew Bell was untested at the level and so concentrated their efforts down his side. However, he stood up to the examination and looked solid, yet his main successes came for the “A” side, whom he captained to a cup double that campaign.
A hugely talented musician and tutor, Bell spent the rest of his playing career at amateur level alongside his work as a full-time teacher, whilst Kyle worked away behind the scenes, trying to make Sunderland a class act once again.
Saturday 18 November 1905
Roker Park
Attendance: 12,000
Football League Division One
Sunderland 2 (Holley 24’, McKenzie 51’)
Everton 1 (Settle 22’)
Sunderland: Webb; Bell, Rhodes; Farquhar, Barrie, Willis; Brown, O’Donnell, McKenzie, Holley, Bridgett.
