The vagaries of the Christmas footballing calendar mean that 30 December seldom sees Sunderland matches hosted — and it must be said that victories for the Lads on this date are even rarer. However, the first instance in 1893 was worthwhile, as Tom Watson’s side welcomed Bolton Wanderers to their Newcastle Road ground and finished the year off with a resilient showing.
Although the visitors were in the bottom half of the table and not in the best of form, they made better use of the blustery conditions
and performed well, meaning that strong performances from Donald Gow and Hugh Wilson in the home rearguard were well timed.
Wilson’s selection in particular proved crucial as having recently come back into the side for Will Gibson, it meant the latter was able to step in and run the line — Bolton secretary John Bentley doing likewise on the opposite side of the pitch in order to assist the referee.
When Sunderland took the lead after twenty minutes, it was slightly against the run of play although the finish was tidy, with John Harvey finding the target after Johnny Campbell played the ball to him when being closed down. There was a chance of a second shortly afterwards too, although after Jimmy Hannah had hit the crossbar, Bolton were able to muster another spell of pressure.
If anything, the Hannah incident had worked out well for the Trotters; goalkeeper John Sutcliffe damaged the goal frame whilst attempting to save the effort and in the ten minutes it took to get that sorted, his teammates had a conflab and regathered themselves.
It was decided also that in order to make up for lost time, the teams wouldn’t leave the field at half time and instead swapped ends before immediately resuming play — meaning there was little respite for Sunderland as they sought to maintain the advantage.
Just as it was starting to look like a single goal would be enough for a Wearsiders’ win, George Ferguson levelled things up.
There was an element of shock about the equaliser for the shot — which some sources instead credited to Davie Weir. It initially appeared to be quite tame yet still managed to creep over the line and put the Lads back to square one. It was now their turn to try and regroup therefore but they did so magnificently, with James Gillespie capping off an exciting final few minutes when he chested the ball into the net from one of Wilson’s classic long throw-ins.
At the time Watson’s men were reigning league champions, having taken the title for the second season running. Their defence had stuttered somewhat up to now though, and it was only in the new year that they put together any sort of consistency — the points taken from this clash leaving them in mid-table at what was the beginnings of a much-improved league run of eleven victories in thirteen.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough to overhaul leaders Aston Villa and by the time of the final fixture — a return clash with the since beaten FA Cup finalists Bolton — the club had been forced to settle for a runners-up spot.
Saturday 30 December 1893
Football League Division One
Newcastle Road
Attendance: 7,000
Sunderland 2 (Harvey 20’, Gillespie 89’)
Bolton Wanderers 1 (Ferguson 80’)
Sunderland: Doig, Meehan, Gow; Dunlop, Auld, Wilson; Gillespie, Harvey, Campbell; Millar, Hannah
