Looking back to this day back in 1985, it actually seemed quite a pivotal moment. It was a point where Sir Tom Cowie’s gamble from the season before could have gone either way.
Going back twelve months, the Sunderland owner decided that – after allowing him to build an exciting young squad, with the likes of Colin West and Gary Rowell banging in the goals, Paul Bracewell pulling the strings in midfield, Barry Venison and Nick Pickering bombing down the flanks from full-back and Chris Turner between
the sticks – that Alan Durban wasn’t his man.
But, as always, Sunderland moves on, and on this occasion Cowie turned back to a club legend on the pitch, someone who had made more appearances as an outfield player than anyone else in the club’s history – Len Ashurst.
Ashurst found himself in a tough spot during his first summer; however, he wanted to freshen up the squad but wasn’t provided with the funds to do so, and tough decisions had to be made. Eight players would make their Sunderland debuts in the first four games of the following season, and for a while, things were looking good.
As December began, Sunderland had just beaten Ron Atkinson’s Manchester United 3-2 at Roker Park in an ill-tempered affair that saw David Hodgson and Mark Hughes receive their marching orders, and Clive Walker bag a hat-trick. This put Ashurst’s side ninth in the table (of 22 in Division One), with a League Cup fourth round replay at White Hart Lane to come days later – having knocked Brian Clough’s Forest out in the previous round.
Top half of the First Division, going strong in the League Cup – happy days.
Sunderland then lost eight out of the next nine league games, including a 3-1 loss at St James’ Park against Jack Charlton’s Mags side, where Gary Bennett and Howard Gayle were sent off.
By the time the Lads were scheduled to travel to Loftus Road to take on Frank Sibley’s Queens Park Rangers on this day in 1985, Sunderland were hovering two places and seven points above the drop, having played a game more than Ipswich Town, who occupied the third relegation spot.
But in the three games prior to the trip to West London, there were signs that things were looking up.
This began with knocking Graham Taylor’s Watford out of the League Cup at the quarter-final stage, and although we followed that up with defeat at The Dell against Lawrie McMenemy’s Southampton, we quickly bounced back with a 1-0 win against a Stoke City side that had Steve Bould at the back and Barry Siddall behind him in goal.
This got even better when the Lads beat Chelsea 2-0 at Roker in the League Cup semi-final first-leg, which meant things were looking up ahead of the clash with QPR, who, although they were four places higher in the table than Sunderland, were only two points better off having played two more fixtures.
It was a good opportunity for Ashurst to relieve the pressure and climb the table to the safety of mid-table, and a training session the day before the game to become accustomed to the controversial synthetic pitch at Loftus Road seemed to have paid off in the early stages, as Sunderland piled the pressure on the hosts.
With just a couple of minutes on the clock, West was sent through on goal by Hodgson with only the keeper to beat, but could only drag his shot wide. Moments later, Gary Bennett shot straight at Peter Hucker in the QPR goal, before Peter Daniel repeated the feat soon after. Then it was Clive Walker’s turn to be sent through on goal by Hodgson, but again his shot was saved.
QPR were having more of the ball, but the away side continued to create the better chances. Even after the break, when the hosts had been offered a chance to regroup, the chances still came for Sunderland. Ten minutes into the second half, an unmarked Pickering could only head over the bar after good work from Venison – it seemed a case of when and not if – and just after the hour mark, it duly arrived.
Predictably, it came at the other end, and it began with an innocuous long clearance from Hucker that Reuben Agboola could only head straight to future Sunderland FA Cup hero John Byrne, who then showed the Sunderland strikers how to do it by driving a crisp shot into the corner of the net past Chris Turner.
More chances were created to equalise in the remaining half hour, but more chances were missed. It would end 1-0 to the home side, with a striker doing the business being the thing to divide the two sides, but for Sunderland, it was possibly more significant.
The positivity going into the QPR fixture was seemingly lost, and Ashurst’s side lost 12 out of the remaining 16 league games and were relegated to Division Two – and of course, we lost in the League Cup final.
Saturday 23rd February, 1985
Barclays League Division One
Queens Park Rangers 1-0 Sunderland
[Byrne 62’]
Loftus Road
Sunderland: Turner, Venison, Pickering, Bennett, Chisholm, Elliott, Hodgson (Wallace), Agboola, West, Daniel, Walker
QPR: Hucker, Fereday, Dawes, Waddock, Wicks, Fenwick, Robinson, Fillery, Bannister, Byrne, Gregory Substitute not used: Kerslake
Attendance: 10,063
